In Peru, Suleiman Urges Respect for 'Right of Peoples to Self-Determination'
President Michel Suleiman on Monday called for respecting “the right of peoples to self-determination,” describing as a “mistaken belief” the notion that the current conflicts in the Arab countries were caused by the diversity of some Arab societies.
Addressing the Summit of South American and Arab Countries, or ASPA, which started on Monday in Peru, Suleiman said “a balanced liberalism, a policy of openness, a real democracy, and respecting the rights of others, stability and peace are the effective path for finding the needed solutions to the aforementioned difficulties.”
The ASPA brings together 22 Arab countries and 12 South American nations on the initiative of former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
More than 2,000 visitors, including heads of state and industry leaders, were due in Lima for the summit.
“Preserving and activating all these elements requires respecting the law locally and internationally, abiding by U.N. resolutions, and respecting the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of any state and the right of the peoples to self-determination, or else civilization will crumble and we will return to the law of the jungle,” the president added.
“We are suffering from this problem in the Arab region, where Israel is continuously violating all these resolutions and regulations,” Suleiman went on to say.
The president stressed the importance of “achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East that would give the Palestinians back their legitimate rights and allow them to return to their homeland … especially those of them who have been embraced by Lebanon as refugees since more than six decades.”
“The notion that the current conflicts in the Arab countries were caused by the diversity of some (Arab) societies is a mistaken belief, as it (diversity) is a source of richness and innovation and our civilizations have developed and prospered throughout the ages due to the contributions offered by all the components of these societies, especially the Oriental Christian component,” Suleiman added.
The president had arrived in Peru on Monday as part of his South American tour, reported the National News Agency.
The president was greeted on arrival in Lima by Energy Minister Jorge Merino and Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, who joined Suleiman's delegation as soon as he completed his visit to New York where he attended the U.N. General Assembly.
The first Summit of South American and Arab Countries, or ASPA, was held in 2005 in Brasilia, with the most recent hosted in Doha in March 2009.
The third meeting had originally been scheduled for February 13-16, 2011 -- just as Egypt's then-President Hosni Mubarak was facing a wave of protests that led to his downfall.
Following the summit, Suleiman is scheduled to travel to Argentina and Uruguay for meetings with officials and the Lebanese community members there.
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