Suleiman Meets Mansour, Says Stances Should Reflect Dissociation Policy
President Michel Suleiman stressed on Saturday that any stance taken by government officials, in particular, the Foreign Minister should reflect the state's dissociation policy.
“Stances taken by government officials and ministers, in particular the FM, in international forums should reflect (the dissociation policy) without any confusion,” Suleiman said after talks with FM Adnan Mansour at the Baabda Palace.
He pointed out that if any other official has another stance - over the developments in Syria - has to tackle it with the President, who in turn discusses it with Prime Minister Najib Miqati.
For his part, Mansour clarified to the president his recent statements over Syria at the Arab Foreign Ministers meeting, and briefed him on the preparations for the Arab League on March 26 and 27.
Earlier, Qatari Ambassador to Lebanon Saad bin Ali al-Muhannadi handed over to Suleiman an invitation from Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to attend the Arab Summit, which will be held in Doha.
Mansour called in his speech as he was preparing to hand over the chairmanship of the Arab Ministerial Council to Egypt on Wednesday for scrapping a decision to suspend the membership of Syria from the Arab League.
The minister's statement drew the rejection of several officials locally including Prime Minister Najib Miqati.
On Thursday, the FM down played criticism on his speech, saying that he “carefully” chose his words as he is keen to preserve Lebanon's best interest.
The Arab League suspended Syria in November 2011 as a sharp rebuke for Assad's leadership over its brutal crackdown on demonstrators seeking to topple his regime.
It said at the time the suspension would apply until Assad implemented an Arab deal to end violence against protesters.
A year later, the League recognized the Syrian National Coalition headed by Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib as the "legitimate representative and main interlocutor with the Arab League.
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