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DAMASCUS, April 3 (Xinhuanet) -- UN envoy Terje
Roed-Larsen said on Saturday that talks with Syria will be tough but he was
optimistic about the outcome, while Syria was said to unveil a timetable for a
full pullout.
"I am now proceeding to Damascus and Beirut on a
difficult mission to discuss deeds and words which are difficult for everybody
concerned," Larsen told reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman, where he met
with Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani al-Mulqi during a brief stop.
"My primary concern is that we have to move forward in
the best interest of all countries concerned and also to move forward in such
a way that we preserve stability in the region and this has been the main topic
of our talks here tonight," he said.
Larsen will meet with Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad here on Sunday. Information Ministry sources told Xinhua that Larsen
would also attend a joint press conference after talks with Syrian Foreign
Minister Faruk al-Shareh.
Larsen kicked off his tour on Saturday in Egypt where
he discussed the Syrian-Lebanese issue with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
After his visit to Syria, the envoy will head to Beirut for talks with senior
Lebanese officials on Monday.
Larsen said he will not discuss a timetable before
meeting with Syrian President al-Assad. "This is the only dialogue which can
really bear fruits," he said, adding that he is not carrying a "warning" to the
leader.
Before talking with Mubarak, the envoy said, "My last
meeting with President Bashar al-Assad was good and bore significant fruitand I
do expect that this also will be the result of the upcoming talks."
UN diplomats said Larsen was expected on Sunday to
receive from Syrian officials a credible and precise timetable on a full pullout
from neighboring Lebanon.
Syria has carried out the first stage of a two-phase
withdrawal, with nearly half of its 14,000 troops pulling out of Lebanon and the
rest pulling back to the eastern Bekaa valley.
A Syrian-Lebanese military committee is scheduled to
meet on April 7 to work out a final withdrawal plan.
During an Arab summit in Algeria late last month, UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan said he has secured a Syrian pledge to completely
withdraw from Lebanon before the country's parliamentary elections in May.
In another development, at least four people were
wounded on Friday night in an explosion in Bermana town in the eastern mountain
of Beirut, the local private LBC television reported.
More than 10 cars were destroyed in the blast, which
caused heavy material damage.
Witnesses said the blast occurred at 09:45 pm (1845
GMT) at theRizk commercial center in a Christian village of Bermana, 20 km east
of Beirut.
Lebanon plunged into political turbulence after the
assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which the opposition has
said on the Syria-backed authorities.
The blast is the fourth bomb attack in Christian
areas in two weeks. Enditem |