Ambassador Connelly’s Statement Following Her Meeting with General Aoun.
June 29, 2011
The following is Ambassador Connelly’s statement following her meeting with General Michel Aoun:
“Good morning. Thank you very much.
I would like to thank General Aoun for seeing us today. It was a very useful meeting, a very interesting meeting. We, of course, discussed the new government and I repeated the US decision which is we will judge the new government by its composition, its ministerial statement and the actions it takes. And of course I reiterated our expectation that the new government will continue to respect Lebanon’s international obligations including those related to the Security Council resolution 1701 and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
I also raised with General Aoun concerns regarding accusations made by his coalition partner against the US Embassy. We view these accusations as an attempt to deflect attention away from internal tensions in Hizballah. I relayed our view as well that we expect the Syrian regime to engage in meaningful dialogue with its opposition and we support the right of the Syrian people to free expression and we want to see the regime end its suppression of that right.
I also noted the positive steps taken by the Lebanese authorities to fulfill Lebanon’s international obligations to protect Syrian citizens who cross into Lebanon to flee the violence in Syria. Thank you very much.”
The following is Ambassador Connelly’s statement following her meeting with General Michel Aoun:
“Good morning. Thank you very much.
I would like to thank General Aoun for seeing us today. It was a very useful meeting, a very interesting meeting. We, of course, discussed the new government and I repeated the US decision which is we will judge the new government by its composition, its ministerial statement and the actions it takes. And of course I reiterated our expectation that the new government will continue to respect Lebanon’s international obligations including those related to the Security Council resolution 1701 and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
I also raised with General Aoun concerns regarding accusations made by his coalition partner against the US Embassy. We view these accusations as an attempt to deflect attention away from internal tensions in Hizballah. I relayed our view as well that we expect the Syrian regime to engage in meaningful dialogue with its opposition and we support the right of the Syrian people to free expression and we want to see the regime end its suppression of that right.
I also noted the positive steps taken by the Lebanese authorities to fulfill Lebanon’s international obligations to protect Syrian citizens who cross into Lebanon to flee the violence in Syria. Thank you very much.”
posted by philippe at 4:07 AM
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