Mubarak calls for immediate ceasefire
25/7/2006 17:07
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Monday called for an immediate ceasefire
between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah, warning that the continuing military
confrontation would lead to a humanitarian disaster, the official MENA news
agency reported.
Mubarak said that all the problems, including demarcating
the disputed Shebaa Farms borders and releasing prisoners, could be dealt with
after reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon.
He urged all parties concerned, which
will meet in the Italian capital of Rome on Wednesday, to adopt decisive
resolutions to end the Middle East crisis.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit also said that he would call for an immediate
ceasefire in Lebanon at the Rome conference on the Hezbollah-Israel
conflict.
Abul Gheit said that the ceasefire would only be attained by the
implementation of some measures, which included a prisoners' swap and deployment
of Lebanese army or international forces in southern Lebanon.
He added that
more countries had been invited to attend the Rome conference on Lebanon,
including China, Spain, Turkey, Japan and Canada.
The top Egyptian diplomat
said that he had held contacts with foreign ministers of participant countries
to explain Egypt's stance and views on the Middle East
conflicts.
Unprecedented diplomatic efforts, including those made by Egypt,
have been going on in the Middle East region in a bid to end the 13-day-old
Israel-Lebanon conflict.
The Egyptian president will also meet with Saudi
King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz in the Egyptian Mediterranean city of Alexandria on
Tuesday to probe the current situation in Lebanon, according to MENA.
In
Beirut, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice started her crisis mission in the
Middle East by paying a surprise visit to the Lebanese capital and held talks
with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora over the escalating situation in the
country.
She also held a one-hour meeting with Lebanon's Parliament Speaker
Nabih Berry, who was believed to have relations with Hezbollah. But the meeting
seemed to have produced no results.
Rice, before her departure for the
regional tour, said that the Bush administration believed a ceasefire was
urgent. "It is however important to have conditions that make it
sustainable."
This was the first time for Rice and other senior US officials
to concede that the US government would be seeking for a ceasefire.
Rice's
visit came after French and German foreign ministers wrapped up their tour to
the Middle East at this weekend.
Both French Foreign Minister Philippe
Douste-Blazy and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said during
their weekend visits that international and regional parties should strive to
create favorable conditions for reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon.
Despite all
these frantic diplomatic efforts, there was no sign of let-up of the violence in
Lebanon.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli troops advanced further into southern
Lebanon, stronghold of Hezbollah, in a bid to tighten their grip on the
area.
Egyptian analysts said that the ongoing conflict between Hezbollah and
Israel was likely to continue for several weeks before a ceasefire was
reached.
Violence between Israel and Hezbollah erupted on July 12 when
Hezbollah guerillas abducted two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a
cross-border raid.
More than 300 Lebanese and 37 Israelis have been killed
and tens of thousands of foreign nationals have fled Lebanon in the conflict
between the two sides.
Xinhua news
|
