Suleiman: I Advised Assad Not to Ignore His People’s Demands
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
President Michel Suleiman stated on Friday that Lebanon’s position at the United Nations Security Council on the developments in Syria “does not place it in a compromising position,” revealing that he encouraged Syrian President Bashar Assad to pave the way for democracy.
He told MTV in an interview: “I advised him against ignoring his people’s demands.”
“I heard positive statements on this issue while at the U.N. General Assembly,” he added.
Lebanon, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, is currently heading its regular session.
On August 3, it chose to “disassociate” itself from a Security Council statement condemning the Syrian regime’s crackdown against anti-regime protests, explaining that such a stand will not help end the crisis there.
Suleiman stressed: “Presidents who do not stay ahead of reform will pay the price for it.”
“Lebanon supports democracy and democratic change and we prefer that it takes place peacefully,” he continued from New York where he was taking part in the U.N. General Assembly.
Furthermore, the president said that he had no evidence that some Lebanese powers are meddling in Syria’s internal affairs.
“The situation in Syria does not have to have repercussions on Lebanon,” he noted.
On the developments in Lebanon, he said: “The government is not completely unified, but it unites when it comes to issues such as the electricity and oil files.”
“The government was formed in Lebanon and given the current electoral system, my only choice is a national unity government,” Suleiman stated.
“Lebanon is not selective in committing to international obligations and regardless of the circumstances, it is committed to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” he added.
“The government does not need to get embroiled in a dispute over this issue,” he noted.
24 September 2011, 09:06
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Unfortunately, the Taef comstitution deprived the President of his prerogatives to take serious decisions and is no longer an influencial parameter in the Lebanese pwoer struggle and shaping of a real nation.
Let's hope that the 2013 elections will be based on a more modern and equitable electoral law, and that the government(s) it will generate will start by drafting a new constitution "Made in Lebanon for Lebanon" and bury the Taef agreement once and for all.
24 September 2011, 12:06
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You' re right Mr President. He should reduce the murders quota, from 35 a day, to a mere 20!
24 September 2011, 14:59
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we demand you and your cronies leave us now and go to your friends in syria where you belong
24 September 2011, 15:01
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my advice to you is keep your advice to yourself only, we want a muslim president now
24 September 2011, 15:10
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my advice to you is keep your advice to yourself only, we want a muslim president now
24 September 2011, 16:07
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Unite . Unite . Unite. now before its too late. The plot is a jewish american. to disburse and scatter the lebanese people so the jews can take over the palestinian lands and kick the rest of palestinians to lebanon. Let us stop attacking each other thats what they want us to do. I am a shiite i am a christian i am a sunni i am a druze. but at the end A lEBANESE. To all my fellows christians who still think that israel and the west cares about you. Wake up wake up now before its too late. We are all brothers carriyng an identity card under one cedar tree. Let us show the world how stupburn we are and we will never give up our land to the jews.
24 September 2011, 16:51
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@shiite...
damn those zionists and their expansionist regimes...
hypocrite... you are nothing but a farsi speaking zionist-mirroring traitor...
24 September 2011, 19:36
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Now they all claim to be advising the Syrians to bring democracy, but a few months ago not a single Lebanese politician (march 14 or 8 or other) brought up the fact that the Syrian regime is a brutal dictatorship and should be changed lol
25 September 2011, 04:37
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Assad is responding to peoples' demands, which are to rid them of the Sunni crazies and pursue them all the way to Saudi Arabia. Everybody should help in whatever way they can.
