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Cheney discusses Syria crisis on Mideast tour | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (R) meets with US Vice President Dick Cheney in Cairo, 17 January 2006 (AFP)


Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (R) meets with US Vice President Dick Cheney in Cairo, 17 January 2006 (AFP)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (R) meets with US Vice President Dick Cheney in Cairo, 17 January 2006 (AFP)

RIYADH (Agencies) – US Vice President Dick Cheney held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Saudi King Abdullah during a Middle East tour focused on the Lebanon-Syria crisis and regional security.

“The talks covered the situation on the Syrian and Lebanese scenes and Saudi-Egyptian efforts to ward off an escalation of the situation in the region,” a Saudi official told AFP after Cheney met the Saudi monarch.

The two men agreed on “the need for Syria to cooperate with the UN probe (into the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri) in keeping with UN Security Council resolutions and on the importance of safeguarding security in the region,” he added, requesting anonymity.

Cheney, who was due to travel on to Kuwait to pay his respects after the death of its emir, Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, later met with Lebanese MP Saad Hariri, son of the former Lebanese premier whose February 2005 assassination triggered anti-Damascus protests and led to the end of Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon.

Riyadh and Cairo have been trying to ease Syria-Lebanon tensions after the assassinations of Hariri and attacks on a number of anti-Syrian Lebanese figures that have been widely blamed on Damascus.

Western powers — Washington and Paris in particular — have been turning up the heat on Damascus since a UN investigation into the Beirut bomb blast which killed Hariri and 20 other people implicated Syria.

Washington has threatened Damascus with more Security Council action and accused President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of obstructing the UN probe.

Earlier, Cheney had discussed tensions between Syria and Lebanon with Mubarak in Cairo.

“We cannot say that today’s meeting brought about any solutions in this file, because it is not so simple and any solution should be based on the implementation of Security Council resolutions,” Mubarak’s spokesman said.

The Saudi official said King Abdullah voiced satisfaction at US efforts to “facilitate” the Palestinian legislative elections on January 25.

Abdullah stressed the need for Washington to help the Palestinian Authority and pursue its efforts to “implement the roadmap and achieve the US president’s (George W. Bush) vision about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”

The two leaders also reviewed “efforts and contacts under way at the Arab and local levels to ensure the success of the political process in Iraq,” the official said.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt are co-sponsors of an Iraqi reconciliation conference to be held in Baghdad in late February or early March in a bid to bring the disempowered Sunni Muslim community back into the political arena.

Abdullah and Cheney also examined the Iranian nuclear file, the official said, as Western powers step up their threat to refer Tehran to the Security Council over its resumption of sensitive nuclear fuel research work.

Saudi officials said cooperation in the fight against terrorism was also on the agenda.

Cheney and Mubarak discussed the impact of the health crisis of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has been in a deep coma since suffering a massive brain haemorrhage on January 4, the Egyptian spokesman said.

The vice president had kicked off his regional tour in December but cut it short to deal with a domestic issue.

Around 40 demonstrators protest in downtown Cairo after U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, January 17, 2006 (AP)

Around 40 demonstrators protest in downtown Cairo after U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, January 17, 2006 (AP)

US Vice President Dick Cheney (L)  talks with Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz (R) with unidentified man (C) at his residence 'Rodah Khozeim', 17 January 2006 (EPA)

US Vice President Dick Cheney (L) talks with Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz (R) with unidentified man (C) at his residence ‘Rodah Khozeim’, 17 January 2006 (EPA)