Information News Thank you
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2005/February/middleeast_February850.xml§ion=middleeast
US envoy calls for Syrian pullout before Lebanese elections
BEIRUT - A US envoy said on Monday that Washington wanted to see Syria start pulling troops out of Lebanon and end its interference in the country’s political affairs ahead of elections due by the end of May.
“We want to see free and fair elections take place this spring,” said visiting US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, David Satterfield.
“It’s important that steps take place on the ground prior to those elections including the beginning of the implementation of Resolution 1559,”
He was speaking after talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud and against the background of more mass demonstrations in Beirut demanding Syrian troops leave.
The demonstrations and increased US pressure on both Beirut and Damascus were sparked by the murder two weeks ago of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
“I reinforced with the minister the strong interest of the US in seing the full application of the UN Security Council Resolution 1559, including the complete withdrawal of Syrian forces including military intelligence from Lebanon,” said Satterfield.
Resolution 1559 adopted by the Security Council in September calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon and respect for its sovereignty. A specific reference to Syria was deleted at the last minute.
“We see Resolution 1559 as completely consistent with both the letter and the spirit of the Taef agreement,” Satterfield said, referring to the accord that put an end to the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon.
Hammud said the next redeployment of Syrian troops towards Syria would constitute a “withdrawal”.
“There is only a semantic difference between redeployment and a withdrawal, because a pullback, if it goes in the direction of Syria, will be a withdrawal,” he said.
On Thursday, Lebanese Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad announced an imminent pullback of Syrian troops to the eastern Bekaa Valley, on the border with Syria. So far, there has been no sign of any troop movements.
The Taef accord stipulated that the Syrian military would retreat to the Bekaa after a two-year transition period, but conditions any redeployment on the approval of both Beirut and Damascus.
The agreement did not lay down a specific timetable for a withdrawal.
In a series of redeployments since June 2001, Syrian troop numbers have fallen from at least 35,000 to 14,000, with the majority positioned away from major population centres.
This reminds me of when your countrymen started to throw off the USSR control of Poland.
You might post some of what happened when Poland started this freedom process against the USSR.