Lebanon: Head of Gulf Cooperation Council backs UN

Lebanon: Head of Gulf Cooperation Council backs work of UN envoy

Recent developments in Lebanon and their broader regional context topped the agenda during talks in Riyadh between Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special envoy and the head of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Abdel Rahman Al-Atiyyeh, a United Nations spokesman reported today.

Mr. Al-Atiyyeh expressed the support of the six GCC member States – Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain – for the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559 and praised the UN Secretary-General's work in Lebanon, according to the spokesman.

Resolution 1559 calls for an end to foreign influence in Lebanon, the disarming and disbanding of militias and the holding of free and fair presidential elections. Last year, Syria complied with the text's provision calling for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon.

Today, Mr. Roed-Larsen met with the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekkmeleddin Ihsanoglu, in Jeddah, before departing Saudi Arabia for Egypt, where he will confer with the Secretary-General of the League of the Arab States, Amre Moussa, and the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Aboulgheit.

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