Junblatt in Washington

The Lebanese leader Walid Junblatt was in Washington yesterday to meet with US Secretary Of State Condoleeza Rice the US Department Of State said.

Sean McCormack, US Department Of State spokesman said they were going "to talk about the situation in Lebanon, the current political situation."

He added "She wants to get a feel for the situation on the ground, reiterate our support for Prime Minister Siniora's effort at economic as well as political reform and our full support for implementation of 1701 and also for the Lebanese people in helping to rebuild some of the infrastructure that was damaged or destroyed during the course of the conflict. We have extensive USAID operations there. Randy Tobias, who heads up our efforts on foreign assistance, was just there in Lebanon. We also have a US public-private partnership that is deeply involved in getting together the funds to help our the Lebanese people for reconstruction."

He said "So that's essentially what she's going to be talking about. Also express our full support for implementation of UN Security Council resolutions looking into the assassination of former Prime Minister Hariri and for the efforts of Mr. Brammertz to get to the bottom of that."