Arab summit closes without Lebanon breakthrough
DAMASCUS (AFP) — An Arab summit failed to clinch a breakthrough on Lebanon on Sunday, spotlighting the rift between host Syria and boycotting US allies which blame Beirut's political crisis on Damascus.
"There is nothing new to mention in this summit, it is like previous Arab summits," Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi told AFP.
"The most important thing about the summit is that there has been some acknowledgement of the divisions and problems and hatred between the Arab states."
A Damascus Declaration -- which Arab League chief Amr Mussa read out at the end of the two-day summit -- called on Lebanon to elect a consensus president and re-endorsed an Arab initiative for peace with Israel.
Arab leaders also urged Iraq "to disband all militias without exception... and speed up the building and training of the Iraqi armed and security forces... in preparation for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq."
The leaders called on Arab states to bolster their diplomatic representation in Iraq by opening embassies in the war-torn country.
On Lebanon, "Arab leaders stress their commitment to the Arab initiative to solve the Lebanese crisis, and call on Lebanese leaders to elect consensus candidate General Michel Sleiman at the time agreed."
They also called for strained ties between Lebanon and its former powerbroker Syria to be put "on the right path".
Feuding Lebanese politicians should "decide on the basis for forming a national unity cabinet", in line with an Arab League initiative to end Lebanon's worst political crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war.
Half the leaders of the 22-member Arab League, including those of pro-Western Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, boycotted the Damascus summit, blaming Syria for Lebanon's protracted crisis.
Washington had urged its allies to think twice before attending the summit, accusing Syria of blocking Lebanon's presidential election.
But Syrian President Bashar al-Assad denied charges of meddling in Lebanon in his opening address on Saturday.
"It is the contrary which is true because pressure has been exerted on Syria for over a year to interfere in Lebanon's affairs," he said. "They have their nation, their institutions, their constitution."
Lebanon has been without a president since November when pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term amid a long-running deadlock between the Western-backed cabinet and the Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran.
The head of the Saudi delegation to the summit, Ahmed Qattan, accused the Lebanese opposition of seeking to "control all the institutions of the state."
"No one can doubt the positive role played by Saudi Arabia in Lebanon to try to maintain its stability and sovereignty," he said.
Arab leaders also renewed an offer to Israel to fully normalise relations in return for a full withdrawal from territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.
The summit "stressed its insistence on maintaining the Arab initiative for peace which represents the main launchpad for resolving the different aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict".
The Saudi-inspired peace plan was first launched at a Beirut summit in 2002 and reactivated in Riyadh last year.
The summit highlighted the increasing polarisation between Syria and US allies such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal called on Syria on Saturday to make a "positive move" to break the deadlock in Lebanon.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in a message, said the Arab world "had hoped that prior to the summit a long-awaited settlement to the crisis... would be reached".
Syria, hosting an Arab summit for the first time, trumpeted the absence of US allies as a triumph over Washington's influence.
Foreign Miniter Walid Muallem said Damascus would be ready in the event of US military action.
"A prudent person must make all his calculations, especially when we have to deal with an administration which knows how to strike but does not know how to withdraw," he said.
