Kuwait complains against Lebanon's running of Arab foreign ministers meeting
Lebanon-Kuwait, Politics, 2/19/2003

An official source at the Arab League said yesterday that Kuwait has filed an official complaint on what it called the presidency of the Ministerial council of the foreign ministers meeting which was held last Sunday and dedicated to discuss the situation in Iraq.

The memorandum which was addressed to Lebanon said that "Kuwait has expressed its regret and annoyance on the unorganized way of running the emergency meeting by the presidency ( Lebanon) which did not abide by the rules and measures stated in the constituent of the council of the Arab League."

The memorandum added that the presidency did not respond to the request proposed by Saudi Arabia to vote on the proposal over which differences started which stated that no statement will be issued by the ministerial council and that a recommendation on this issue to be submitted to the extraordinary Arab summit.

The memorandum explained that "the Saudi Arabian request met the support of Egypt and Kuwait, but was ignored by the presidency which once again violated the measures pursued at the AL Council." The memorandum indicated that the statement which was issued concerning Iraq "does not meet nor reflect the demands of the Arab states which had different view points and remarks. A matter which pushed Kuwait to have reservations on the statement."

The Kuwaiti charge de affairs in Lebanon Suleiman al-Harbi spoke earlier on Tuesday that the current differences between his country and Lebanon concerning the crisis in Iraq and considered statements by several parliamentarians in Kuwait as do not reflect the official position of his country.

The Kuwaiti diplomat denied the statements made by Kuwaiti parliamentarians in which they called for freezing economic aid to Lebanon and called for the withdrawal of the Kuwaiti ambassador from Beirut. The diplomat said that what was stated by those diplomats does not reflect Kuwait's official position.

The statements of the Kuwaiti diplomat to the press came following his meeting with the Lebanese foreign minister Mahmoud Hammoud at the request of the former in order to clarify Kuwait's position concerning the results of the recent meetings of the Arab foreign ministers.

However, representatives who attended the Ministerial meeting stressed that Kuwait sought to hold a vote on the final statement which called on the Arab states to abstain from giving any military facilities to the US in its likely war against Iraq. The representatives added that the Lebanese foreign minister, who presided over the meeting, did not support the Kuwaiti demand.

Worthy mentioning that half of the American forces in the region, tolled 150,000 troopers are deployed in Kuwait in preparations to launch war against Iraq.

Previous Stories:
  The Guardian: Millions worldwide rally against any war on Iraq   (2/17/2003)
  Arab FM's: No facilities for war against Iraq; Kuwaiti reservations   (2/17/2003)
  Arab FMs final statement on Iraq   (2/17/2003)
  Lebanese invitation to Kuwait to attend the Arab summit   (1/23/2002)

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