No-shows overshadow Arab summit
Several leaders snub meeting in Damascus amid a row over Lebanon’s political crisis.
Lebanon’s government said it would boycott the event amid the continuing deadlock with the Syrian-backed opposition over the make-up of the cabinet and the election of a new president.
On Friday, Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, gave a televised speech blaming Syria for the political crisis in his country.
“Lebanon has had a presidential void for more than four months,” he said.
“Syria cannot be isolated. Whoever is absent is only isolating themselves” Yousef Ahmed, Syria’s ambassador to the Arab League |
Siniora also urged Arab League foreign ministers to hold a special meeting as soon as possible to help repair Lebanese-Syrian relations.
“The Lebanese government stresses once again its desire to establish healthy, brotherly relations with Syria based on mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and independence,” he said.
He said that the border between the two countries needed to be clearly defined and called on Damascus to co-operate with the Lebanese government in dealing with the disarmament of factions operating outside Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Moustafa Dabbas, a US-based Arab journalist, told Al Jazeera: “The west pressures some Arabs not to come because they want [the] summit to fail. I don’t think [it will], the summit will win.”
Morocco and Oman have also announced they were sending low-level delegates while Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, said on Friday that he would not be able to attend the summit due to a struggle with Shia militias at home.