Libya May be Convinced Not to Attend Beirut Summit

An Arab country may exert efforts with Libya to convince it not to attend Beirut’s upcoming Arab economic summit in order to avoid a likely confrontation with Speaker Nabih Berri and his AMAL Movement, a media report said.

Noting that the Libya issue has turned into a standoff between Berri and President Michel Aoun, highly-informed sources told Kuwait’s al-Rai newspaper that “a third country could seek to convince Libya to voluntarily withdraw from the Beirut summit to avoid further Lebanese divisions and to preserve the security of the summit and its participants.”

The said exit would also “spare both leaders the embarrassment,” the sources added.

Senior political sources meanwhile told the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah daily that “the Shiites’ threat to take to the streets cannot be overlooked and it puts the fate of the entire summit at stake.”

“The Arab delegations will not risk come to Beirut if they find out that security is not guaranteed,” the sources added.

The former Libyan regime of slain strongman Moammar Gadhafi is accused of kidnapping AMAL founder Imam Moussa al-Sadr in 1978. The revered imam’s disappearance is still a thorny chapter in the Lebanese-Libyan relations despite the fall of Gadhafi’s regime.