Report: Egyptian Diplomacy to Help Lebanon Solve Presidential Impasse
Lebanese officials and political parties anxiously await for what the visit of Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will carry during his three-day visit to Lebanon, where he is set to kick start meetings with several Lebanese officials and political leaders in a bid to solve the presidential deadlock, An Nahar daily reported on Tuesday.
Shourky arrived in Beirut late on Monday amid hopes that his visit would convey new ideas that would help Lebanon overcome its political crisis.
However, involved circles seem prudent not to pin prior expectations on the outcome of the visit as they prefer to see the ideas and orientations that the visit would convey, to help Lebanon overcome its presidential crisis, said the daily.
But the same circles do not overlook the significance of the Egyptian move towards Lebanon at this timing when the Arab, international and regional parties seem encumbered in their own priorities where Lebanon seems to have no place.
The circles said they expect the Egyptian move to focus primarily on conveying President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi's viewpoint on Egypt's readiness to play a supporting role in helping political factions reach a compromise with regard to the presidential impasse, with an emphasis on the necessity to end this crisis to preserve Lebanon's stability, it added.
Last week, Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Badreddine Zayed said after a meeting with Foeign Minster Jebran Bassil that Shoukry will propose “new ideas” regarding Lebanon's presidential crisis during his visit to the country.
He had stressed that “Egypt is keen to offer all support to Lebanon in the current period and we all understand the challenges that the region is going through and how critical is the regional situation. This is the reason behind Egypt's keenness on the current Egyptian-Lebanese interaction.”
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
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