US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday warned against diplomatic moves to solve Lebanon's serious political crisis by "compromising" with the Lebanese national opposition. "I think there is a lot of talk right now about compromise," she told journalists on a plane taking her to Ankara for talks with Turkish leaders on Kurdish rebels.
"There are a lot of discussions going on. That is fine," she added before a stopover in Ireland. "But any candidate for president or any president needs to be committed to Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, needs to be committed to resolutions that Lebanon has signed on to ... and needs to be committed to carrying on the tribunal."
Rice was referring to the international UN-backed tribunal that was set up to prosecute those behind the murder of former Prime Minister martyr Rafiq Hariri, a five-time PM who was killed along with 22 others in a massive Beirut explosion in February 2005. She did not name names, but her statement appeared to be a veiled reference to a meeting between MP General Michel Aoun and head of the Future parliamentary bloc MP Saad Hariri.