Lebanese president discuss Butrous trip to Syria; Lebanese status in Congo

The Lebanese President Emil Lahoud on Thursday received former Lebanese Foreign minister Fuad Butrous. Conditions on the Lebanese and regional arenas were reviewed.

Butrous briefed Lahoud on the results of his meeting with President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus last Monday.

On Thursday, President Lahoud also discussed with the US ambassador in Lebanon David Satter- Field the efforts exerted by the US in order to resume the ME peace process as well as US- Lebanese relations.

Satter-field briefed Lahoud about the results of talks held by the US secretary of state Colin Powell in several countries of the region.

The Lebanese President, on the other hand, called on the authorities in Congo to give urgent explanations to define the fate of 11 Lebanese over whom news were contradictory on conditions behind their killing in January in Congo following the assassination of the Congo's President Luran Kapilla.

The Lebanese President asked the foreign ministry to intensify contacts over this regard to know results of the meetings held by the Lebanese ambassador to Congo Shehadah al-Muaallim and the delegate of the Lebanese foreign ministry lawyer Haitham Jum'a in Kinshasa to find facts on conditions behind the execution of the 11 Lebanese.

For his part, the Speaker of the Lebanese parliament Nabih Berri urged President of Congo Joseph Kapilla to give special priority to the issue of killing the Lebanese in Kinshasa.

In statements he made on Thursday, Berri stressed that the Lebanese government and foreign ministry will continue investigations with Congo to reveal details on this case and to release other detained Lebanese.