Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Lebanon sends back invitation to Libya Arab League summit
BEIRUT: In the latest blow to diplomatic relations between the two countries, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has ordered an invitation to this month’s Arab League summit be returned to Libya, local media reports said Tuesday.
Following talks with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who is currently in Germany on an official visit, Sleiman told Foreign Minister Ali Shami to send the invitation back to Tripoli, the An-Nahar newspaper reported.
The Lebanese Embassy in Damascus on Monday received the invitation to the Arab summit, due to be held in Libya from March 27-28, but rejected it “for administrative reasons,” the Foreign Ministry said.
It added that the Lebanese Embassy in Damascus was “not authorized to receive and respond” to the invitation.
Earlier on Monday, the Voice of Lebanon radio station quoted well-informed sources as saying that Lebanese Ambassador to Damascus Michel Khoury had expressed reservations about the manner in which the invitation was sent.
The development is the latest in an ongoing diplomatic spat over the disappearance of an influential Lebanese Shiite cleric 32 years ago.
Iranian-born Lebanese Imam Musa al-Sadr, together with his two companions Abbas Badreddine and Mohammad Yaqoub, disappeared during an official trip to Libya in August 1978. The Lebanese widely blame Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for ordering the men’s disappearance, but Tripoli denies the allegations. Libya has repeatedly claimed Sadr, who was the spiritual and political leader of the Movement of the Deprived in Lebanon (Amal), had already left for Italy before going missing.
Rome has always maintained Sadr never arrived there, though in 2004 the Italian authorities returned a passport found in Italy belonging to the influential cleric.
Sadr’s disappearance remains a serious point of diplomatic friction between Lebanon and Libya. Gadhafi, who has not visited Beirut since Sadr vanished, was indicted by the Lebanese authorities along with six other Libyans in August 2008 for the imam’s disappearance.
On Friday, a top official said Sleiman would skip the summit in protest of Libya’s handling of the Sadr case. Beirut will not send any lower-level officials either, a well-informed ministerial source told The Daily Star on Monday.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa is expected to arrive in Beirut Wednesday to discuss the controversy with Lebanese officials. The Egyptian national has previously warned Libyan officials it would be a “mistake” to fail to invite Lebanon and that the snub could negatively affect Lebanon and the Arab League.
– The Daily Star
Lebanon sends back invitation to Libya Arab League summit
BEIRUT: In the latest blow to diplomatic relations between the two countries, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has ordered an invitation to this month’s Arab League summit be returned to Libya, local media reports said Tuesday.
Following talks with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who is currently in Germany on an official visit, Sleiman told Foreign Minister Ali Shami to send the invitation back to Tripoli, the An-Nahar newspaper reported.
The Lebanese Embassy in Damascus on Monday received the invitation to the Arab summit, due to be held in Libya from March 27-28, but rejected it “for administrative reasons,” the Foreign Ministry said.
It added that the Lebanese Embassy in Damascus was “not authorized to receive and respond” to the invitation.
Earlier on Monday, the Voice of Lebanon radio station quoted well-informed sources as saying that Lebanese Ambassador to Damascus Michel Khoury had expressed reservations about the manner in which the invitation was sent.
The development is the latest in an ongoing diplomatic spat over the disappearance of an influential Lebanese Shiite cleric 32 years ago.
Iranian-born Lebanese Imam Musa al-Sadr, together with his two companions Abbas Badreddine and Mohammad Yaqoub, disappeared during an official trip to Libya in August 1978. The Lebanese widely blame Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi for ordering the men’s disappearance, but Tripoli denies the allegations. Libya has repeatedly claimed Sadr, who was the spiritual and political leader of the Movement of the Deprived in Lebanon (Amal), had already left for Italy before going missing.
Rome has always maintained Sadr never arrived there, though in 2004 the Italian authorities returned a passport found in Italy belonging to the influential cleric.
Sadr’s disappearance remains a serious point of diplomatic friction between Lebanon and Libya. Gadhafi, who has not visited Beirut since Sadr vanished, was indicted by the Lebanese authorities along with six other Libyans in August 2008 for the imam’s disappearance.
On Friday, a top official said Sleiman would skip the summit in protest of Libya’s handling of the Sadr case. Beirut will not send any lower-level officials either, a well-informed ministerial source told The Daily Star on Monday.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa is expected to arrive in Beirut Wednesday to discuss the controversy with Lebanese officials. The Egyptian national has previously warned Libyan officials it would be a “mistake” to fail to invite Lebanon and that the snub could negatively affect Lebanon and the Arab League.
– The Daily Star
