Abul-Gheit: region nearing chaos
Egypt-Lebanon, Politics, 8/3/2006

Egypt and France yesterday called for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon whereas the United States said a cease fire could be reached within days.

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak Wednesday dispatched Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit in an urgent mission for conveying a message to Lebanese President Emil Lahoud.

Abul-Gheit said in addressing a press conference on Wednesday following his meeting with Lahoud that the message expressed support form President Mubarak to President Lahoud and asserted Egypt's support for the Lebanese people.

Egypt seeks to reach an immediate ceasefire and is working within the framework of the UN Security Council, the United Nations, the international community and all the influential nations such as the United States, the European Union, China and Russia to reach a ceasefire, he added.

Egypt is seeking the deployment of the proposed international peacekeeping forces as well, he said.

He said Egypt continues to offer assistance to the Lebanese people, referring to medical supplies, foodstuffs and the 150-bed field hospital in which 100 Egyptian Physicians are operating.

Answering a question by MENA on a possible Arab summit, he said consultations are under way in this respect, pointing out that if such summit was not convened, strenuous Arab and Egyptian efforts are being exerted to realize the same end in terms of the call for a cease fire agreement.

He underlined the fact that the Egyptian stance since the start of the offensive in Lebanon has been supportive to the Lebanese people. Egypt has been working at a very high tempo to reach a ceasefire agreement and avoid war, he said.

He pointed out to several contacts by Egypt with the American, European and Israeli sides over the past three weeks.

Foreign Minister Abul-Gheit noted that Lebanese President Emile Lahoud asked Egypt to maintain its support of Lebanon and to resume its diplomatic efforts.

Answering a question on reports that some Arab parties were engaged in a cover-up operation in an attempt to hide things connected with the war on Lebanon from their public, Abul-Gheit wondered if the Arab mentality could believe such allegations. Such reports, he pointed out, are mere nonsense.

The Egyptian top diplomat said that Lebanon war was threatening the Middle East region with chaos.

He added that the regional situation required the resumption of political and diplomatic action to reach a settlement to the Palestinian issue and put an end to the tragic situation in Lebanon.

Abul-Gheit expressed hope that the United Nations Security Council would hold a meeting on Thursday to pass a resolution on a cease fire in Lebanon.

While in Beirut, Minister Abul Gheit met Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora, Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdullah Al- Khatib and Spanish foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos.

Following his meeting with Premier Seniora, Minister Abul- Gheit said the Egyptian people were furious about what was going on in Lebanon.

Egypt is working to reach a ceasefire in Lebanon, he asserted.

The people of Egypt will stand closely side by-side with the people of Lebanon, he said. This is the message "I am delivering" from the Egyptians to their Lebanese brothers, he said.

"We are very close to reaching a ceasefire," he announced voicing hope that the UN would be able to pass a ceasefire resolution within the next 48 to 72 hours.

Abul-Gheit further asserted that the issue of holding an Arab summit was still "proposed," but "we should prepare well for the summit in order for it to come up with the kind of resolutions expected."

He further underlined that there were non-stop contacts among Arab leaders and foreign Ministers, saying President Hosni Mubarak was exerting utmost efforts in this regard, making the cause of the Lebanese people his daily preoccupation.

Speaking of Arab pressure cards, the Egyptian foreign Minister said: "I am not talking on behalf of the Arab position, that position is the concern of the Arab League Secretary General.
I am talking on behalf of Egypt from the very Beginning, has been working in this regard.

As you know President Mubarak tasked me with visiting Damascus and delivering a message to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad after nearly five hours from the flare-up of clashes in southern Lebanon."

Over the past three weeks, Egypt has been actively working at the diplomatic level to establish a ceasefire, said Abul- Gheit, adding "we are very close to reach ceasefire."

Egyptian contacts are under way with the US, France and the rest of the UN Security council members to make sure that Lebanon approves of suggestions to deploy an international stabilization force on its borders with Israel and of the nature and formation of such a force, Abul-Gheit said.

He noted that proposed force should not be one that carries the NATO flag. It should be a force that maintains and not imposes peace, he stressed.

He said that the exclusion of the Israeli ambassador to Egypt would not help in bringing an end to the Israeli aggression on Lebanon.

Egypt has an obligation to fulfill its international and regional responsibilities, he said.

It must be fully understood that neither Cairo's explosion of the Israeli ambassador nor its recall of its ambassador to Israel would change the current situation.

What is going to change the present state of affairs and end the crisis is applying more pressures on Israel and on those supporting it and on the international community, he said. This is the only thing that can be done to reach a conclusion, he stressed.

Egypt has lived up to its responsibilities since day one of the Israeli offensive on Lebanon, he said. Egypt, the biggest of the Arab nations in terms of its population, has been the most agile and the swiftest to move.

Nobody can deny that fact. Egypt was among the first countries to scramble to offer help and settle the crisis.

He said the kind of work needed to be done to help Lebanon in its current ordeal must be diplomatic and political, "Those claiming otherwise do not know what they are talking about."

Abul-Gheit further reiterated that Egypt stood beside Lebanon from the very beginning, with President Mubarak and himself making urgent contacts, adding that he understood the Lebanese people's fury at the Arab stand and not at the Egyptian one.

Shifting to the issue of holding an Arab summit, Abul-Gheit said such a question should be addressed to Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, asserting that Egypt was among the countries which agreed to hold an Arab summit.

Talking about Israel's threats to strike deep into Lebanon, Abul-Gheit voiced Egypt's categorical rejection of such threats, saving the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, in previous statements, had warned of widening of clashes and called for an immediate ceasefire.

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