ShareBEIRUT: Kuwait’s foreign minister said yesterday that he has given Lebanese authorities a list of suggested measures to be taken to ease a diplomatic rift with Gulf Arab countries. The proposal were delivered to Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President Michel Aoun during a visit by Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, the first to Lebanon by a senior Gulf official since a spat erupted last year.
The visit, coordinated with Gulf Arab states, is part of wider efforts to restore trust between Lebanon and its Gulf Arab neighbors as the country grapples with an unprecedented financial crisis. A list “of ideas and suggestions was presented yesterday and mentioned again today to the president”, Sheikh Ahmed told reporters yesterday after meeting with Aoun. “We are now waiting for a response from them on these suggestions,” he added, refusing to elaborate on the proposed steps.
Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib will visit Kuwait at the end of the month, Sheikh Ahmed said. Mikati was also invited to visit Kuwait, he added, without specifying a date. In October, Saudi Arabia and its allies suspended diplomatic ties with Lebanon after the airing of comments by then information minister Georges Kordahi criticizing a Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen.
Kuwait recalled its ambassador from Beirut and also asked Beirut’s charge d’affaires to leave the country. Last month, Kordahi resigned in a bid to ease the standoff and French President Emmanuel Macron said Paris and Riyadh had agreed to fully engage to restore diplomatic ties. But tensions have persisted, mainly over the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which is backed by Saudi’s archrival Iran. Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Beirut called on Lebanese political parties to “end Hezbollah’s terrorist hegemony over every aspect of the state”.
Sheikh Ahmad affirmed Gulf states’ aspirations not to see Lebanon turning into a “platform for any kind of offensive”. Emerging from the meeting with Aoun at Baabda Palace, Sheikh Ahmad said he conveyed greetings from Their Highnesses the Amir and the Crown Prince to the Lebanese leadership. The minister also conveyed messages from Arab and foreign states for rebuilding confidence in the country.
“These ideas and proposals are based on resolutions of the international legitimacy and the Arab League,” Sheikh Ahmad said, declaring that he asked the Lebanese leadership to ensure that the country does not turn into “a platform for any rhetorical or actual offensive”. The minister indicated that the relayed proposals were not tantamount to intervention in Lebanon’s internal affairs.
Sheikh Ahmad also urged Lebanese authorities to increase efforts to curb the smuggling of drugs to Kuwait and other regional countries. The minister made the demand during a meeting with Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Al-Mawlawi. He stressed on the necessity of increasing efforts to curb smuggling of narcotics to Kuwait and the region, noting that the Lebanese state ought to shoulder its responsibilities and fulfil its duties to stop this for sake of protecting the two brotherly countries and peoples.
Sheikh Ahmad said his visit to Lebanon seeks to rebuild measures of trust between Lebanon and regional and foreign states after a meeting with Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri. The talks with the speaker dealt with issues of mutual concerns, regional and international topics and challenges related to building trust between Lebanon and its neighbors, he said.
“All parties involved expressed desire for Lebanon to be stable and secure,” the foreign minister said, stressing this can be achieved through the implementation of international and Arab legitimacy resolutions”, alluding to the Arab League. Asked about naming a new ambassador to Lebanon, Sheikh Ahmad said “we have not nominated anyone for the post”. – Agencies
