Lebanon Chairs Security Council as Suleiman Heads to New York on Sept. 18
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Lebanon took over the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council for this month, the second time since its council membership in January 2010.
Ambassador Nawwaf Salam told An Nahar daily published Friday that he was seeking to introduce “preventive diplomacy” to the agenda of the council. “This concept includes means and diplomatic measures taken in advance to prevent the eruption of conflicts or stop them from spreading.”
Last year, the council discussed the issue of dialogue between different cultures and the resolution of conflicts upon the request of the Lebanese mission during its first presidency of the Security Council.
Asked about the Palestinian bid to join the U.N. as a state, Salam said that Lebanon would be at the forefront of those backing the attempt.
“If any state proposed (the discussion) of the Syrian issue, we hold onto the rules and procedures mentioned in the Security Council’s by-laws and we would implement them,” he told An Nahar.
Lebanon’s role as Security Council president this month comes as President Michel Suleiman addresses the 66th General Assembly session on Sept. 2. Suleiman is also scheduled to chair a council meeting on preventive diplomacy on Sept. 22, An Nahar said.
He is expected to travel to New York on Sept. 19 or 20.
As Safir daily said that in his address to the assembly, Suleiman will stress the right of Palestinians to establish and independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. He will also reject their naturalization and call for the return of refugees to their home state.
Official sources also denied to al-Liwaa newspaper that Suleiman will chair a Council meeting on Sept. 20 during which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will ask for the agency to approve his bid for a Palestinian state.
That session will be chaired by Salam, they said.
The president is scheduled to hold a series of talks with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and several heads of state during his visit to New York.
02 September 2011, 12:29
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Mr President, while in NYC please remember that you come from bilad al arz where for the last 5,000 years our cedars have stood tall and proud and so have the people of the 10,452.
Your speech should be straight to the point with the courage to say that we want:
No more weapons outside of the Lebanese government
100% for the STL
All PLO/refugees out of Lebanon ASAP
Agreement with Israel on the maritime boundaries
Maybe then, and for a change, our Syrian and Iranian "friends" will get the message that Lebanon is a sovereign nation.
Good Luck and make us proud.
02 September 2011, 15:28
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Roger,
Unfortunately, Sleiman is a Syrian lackey. Rather than follow your sage advice, he will bow his behind to the Syrians and their allies, and instead of defending the right of Lebanon to be out of the "resistance" BS that has plagued us for 40 years, he will still argue for the liberation of Palestine at the expense of Lebanon and will still defend his boss Bashar al-Asad and will still lie to his people that Hezbollah's resistance is the way to go forward, instead of negotiating - like all the Arabs - with Israel an end to the charade in south Lebanon.
02 September 2011, 16:05
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Please, please make us Lebanese proud, not they Syrian and Iranian governments and their blind followers.
02 September 2011, 19:06
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Roger : nice dream . when you wake up on September 20th let me know if it will come true . but again there is nothing wrong with dreaming
03 September 2011, 04:39
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What an ironic twist of fate. There will be a vote in the security council regarding the slaughter of Syrians by ASSad. What will Lebanon do? Stand with the people like they did in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Temen........or show their hypocrite Hezbollah side?
03 September 2011, 10:02
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Guys, I think you are all correct, and there is nothing wrong with dreaming :)
It is my wish for once to feel like this country has a strong leader.
I will just have to wait for this wish to come true...
