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Arab League to Discuss Lebanon Reconstruction Next Month

Arab League foreign ministers said Sunday they were committed to help reconstruction efforts in Lebanon but delayed concrete plans to a meeting of Arab finance ministers in September.
Member states expressed "willingness to exert a (joint) Arab effort in the participation of Lebanon's reconstruction, supporting the development of the Lebanese economy," read the final statement of the emergency meeting in Cairo.

The League also instructed its Economic Council, made up of Arab finance ministers, to lay out details of the reconstruction plans during their meeting in September, the statement said, without saying exactly when.

"There are already Arab efforts on the ground," UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdallah Bin Zayed, who was presiding over Sunday's meeting, told reporters.

"There are daily planes landing in Beirut, and daily ships bringing aid. There are many Arab initiatives, including the building of schools and hospitals in Lebanon," he added.

"The meeting is important on a technical level, but on a political level, the decision (to help Lebanon) has already been taken."

In a statement, the League stressed the need for a complete and lasting ceasefire in Lebanon and condemned "the Israeli violations of resolution 1701," which put an end to the month-long war between Israel and Hizbullah.

The emergency meeting at the League's headquarters in Cairo was marked by the absence of the Syrian foreign minister Walid Al-Muallem. Syria was instead represented by its ambassador to Cairo Yussef Ahmed.

Several Arab countries, notably the oil-rich Gulf monarchies, have already announced aid packages to help Lebanon rebuild its shattered infrastructure.

Executive Secretary of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA), Mervat Tallawy, called on Arabs to draw up a plan for the reconstruction "of all areas of Lebanon, to reach all the communities, so that it would be a unification plan and not the opposite," she said at the opening session.

She also urged donor countries to officially inform the Arab League and the Beirut-based ESCWA of any aid pledges in order to have an idea of the sums.

Ahead of the meeting of the 22-member bloc, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh appealed for more aid for his war-ravaged country.

"Lebanon is awaiting more Arab aid for its reconstruction," he said.

The Lebanese government has estimated damage inflicted by the Israeli offensive which came to an end last Monday at 3.6 billion dollars -- including 15,000 housing units, 80 bridges and 94 roads destroyed or damaged.(AFP) (AP photo is of Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh)

Beirut, 21 Aug 06, 11:11


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