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Lebanon: Explosive mediation
Amr Moussa's Lebanon reconciliation mission could fail if rival parties continue to stall, Dina Ezzat reports
The last thing that Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa might have wished to hear this week was the news of two consecutive explosions in Lebanon. These explosions occurred less than 24 hours after his two-day visit to Syria where he tried to lobby Damascus to lend substantive support to Lebanese reconciliation. The worst news -- if anything can overshadow the loss of life and horror incurred -- is that the explosions reopened the exchange of harsh accusations between conflicting camps in Lebanon.
On Tuesday, two explosions ripped through two commuter buses travelling on a busy mountain highway northeast of Beirut, killing three and injuring 20, police said. Witnesses said that a bomb exploded first on one bus, at around 9am. As people and rescuers rushed to the scene, a second explosion, about 10 minutes later, tore through a second bus that had been following behind it.
Shortly after the blasts, the pro-government majority coalition in parliament said in a statement that it holds "the Syrian regime fully responsible for this despicable crime". It accused Syria of trying to "make Lebanon another Iraq by destroying its security and stability". The coalition also blasted Syrian-backed Hizbullah, calling for enhanced security on the border with Syria "to halt the flow of arms to subversive groups directly linked to [Syria's] regime".
Like most Arab officials, Moussa was prompt in condemning the explosions and calling for stability and calm to prevail. But his concerns go far beyond this incident.
In the early dawn hours of Tuesday, Moussa returned from Damascus with little to show. The Arab League secretary-general had a hard time convincing his Syrian interlocutors, including President Bashar Al-Assad, to lend support to the demand of the Lebanese majority led by Prime Minister Fouad Al-Siniora and opposition led by Hizbullah to formulate the basic rules of an international tribunal that would try accused assassins of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri.
more
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/832/re51.htm
On Tuesday, two explosions ripped through two commuter buses travelling on a busy mountain highway northeast of Beirut, killing three and injuring 20, police said. Witnesses said that a bomb exploded first on one bus, at around 9am. As people and rescuers rushed to the scene, a second explosion, about 10 minutes later, tore through a second bus that had been following behind it.
Shortly after the blasts, the pro-government majority coalition in parliament said in a statement that it holds "the Syrian regime fully responsible for this despicable crime". It accused Syria of trying to "make Lebanon another Iraq by destroying its security and stability". The coalition also blasted Syrian-backed Hizbullah, calling for enhanced security on the border with Syria "to halt the flow of arms to subversive groups directly linked to [Syria's] regime".
Like most Arab officials, Moussa was prompt in condemning the explosions and calling for stability and calm to prevail. But his concerns go far beyond this incident.
In the early dawn hours of Tuesday, Moussa returned from Damascus with little to show. The Arab League secretary-general had a hard time convincing his Syrian interlocutors, including President Bashar Al-Assad, to lend support to the demand of the Lebanese majority led by Prime Minister Fouad Al-Siniora and opposition led by Hizbullah to formulate the basic rules of an international tribunal that would try accused assassins of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Al-Hariri.
more
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/832/re51.htm
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