U.S. Diplomat Says Lebanese Must Choose Own Leaders on Time

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Sate for Near Eastern Affairs Anne Patterson has urged the Lebanese to choose their leaders on time and away from foreign interference.

“The Lebanese can, should, and must choose their own leaders, and upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections are opportunities to do so,” Patterson said in a speech in Washington on Monday.

“We urge that they go forward in accordance with the Lebanese constitution, on time, and free from foreign interference,” she said during a ceremony held on the occasion of the 9th anniversary of the Cedar Revolution.

Patterson lauded “the spirit of national pride and independence that brought hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to the streets of Beirut” in the aftermath of the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri in Feb. 2005.

“The justifiable Lebanese demand for an end to an era of Syrian military occupation and political violence in the country also foreshadowed demands for change and accountability that we see today elsewhere across the region,” she said.

But Patterson lamented that “some of the shadows of 2005 have returned.”

She said Hizbullah members have crossed from Lebanon to fight in the Syrian civil war on behalf of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad despite the agreement of all the Lebanese parties in the Baabda Declaration to keep Lebanon at a distance from the region's crises.

The diplomat called on all the Lebanese parties to respect the principles laid out in the Baabda Declaration, the Taef Accord, and U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701.

“We are working with Lebanon’s international friends, particularly the International Support Group, to provide practical support that buttresses the Lebanese people’s own calls for an end to intervention in foreign conflicts, an end to the cycle of violence,” Patterson said.

G.K.

H.K.

Comments 2
Missing cedars 30 April 2014, 14:28

Stay on topic...because the two murderers were set to pay the price of their deeds. Remember what Nasrallah told General al hajj when he lead nahr al bared battle then assassinated him the Syrian hegemony way.
The fact of the matter Nasrallah lies on his people, he send his ministers to baabda to eat the good food and agree on something, then when they leave and digest the food they ate in Baabda during the disassociation meeting, they receive a call from their master in Syria and as usual undermine the state they live in play the resistance people army song.

Thumb chrisrushlau 30 April 2014, 19:30

Her adivce isn't any good if she didn't tell Lebanon whom to elect!
Seriously, why don't you ask her why the Taef Accord is the law if it disenfranchises the majority?