By SAAD AL-ENEZI, Associated Press Writer
KUWAIT CITY – Syria’s foreign minister said Friday the U.N. Security Council’s involvement in Syria and Lebanon may impede attempts to improve relations between the two countries.
Foreign Minister Walid Moallem spoke in Kuwait hours after the United States, France and Britain introduced a draft resolution in the Security Council that urged Syria to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon and delineate the border between the two countries. The draft also calls on Syria, as well as Iran, to work for the disarmament of militia in Lebanon
The resolutions backers — including the United States — insist the draft is just a follow-up to resolution 1559 adopted by the council in September 2004 which called for strict respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and political independence under Lebanese government authority — a demand that has not yet been fully met.
It also called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon, the disbanding and disarmament of all militias, and the extension of government authority throughout the country.
At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton agreed that the Security Council should not be involved in bilateral relations between two countries.
"But that’s not the issue here," he stressed. "The question between Syria and Lebanon involves the decades-long occupation of one country by the other, continued meddling in the internal affairs of Lebanon by Syria, and therefore questions of the extension of diplomatic relations here are critical to breaking through the denial that apparently still grips Lebanon."
Moallem said his government "accepts in principle" the idea of forging diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon, but was waiting for a better atmosphere.
