Mansour Will Represent Lebanon in Geneva 2, Rejects Receiving Orders from March 14
Caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed Thursday that it was not up to the March 14 alliance to decide who would represent Lebanon at a proposed peace conference on Syria in Geneva.
In remarks to As Safir daily, Mansour said: “I will represent Lebanon at the head of the Lebanese delegation at the Geneva 2” conference.
“It is not up to March 14 to decide this issue although it can reject or comment as much as it wants,” he said.
“Eventually, institutions and officials in power decide how things will take place. We don't receive orders from them (March 14),” Mansour added.
The alliance has on several occasions criticized the minister for being close to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Russian and U.S. officials on Tuesday failed to agree a date for the peace conference in Geneva that has been delayed multiple times.
World powers strongly disagreed over what diplomatic steps to take to resolve the fighting in Syria and what any future Syrian leadership beyond Assad's government should look like.
Syria's information minister, Omran al-Zoubi, has said the Assad government is not ready to negotiate handing over power. Syrian opposition leaders have insisted that Assad be excluded from Syria's future leadership for any talks to take place.
Mansour told As Safir that if the Geneva 2 talks were held, he would stress that a solution to Syria's crisis “should come only through dialogue because the ongoing rounds of violence are dragging everyone towards destruction.”
“Lebanon will not stand with one team against the other” and has repeatedly said that the war should be resolved peacefully.
Mansour said he would warn that the war has given rise to extremist thoughts and terrorist operations through the fighters who have entered the country from abroad.
Such developments have become a direct threat on the whole region, he said.
“Counter-terrorism is not only a Lebanese interest but an international duty to ward off the danger from everyone,” Mansour added.
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