BEIRUT: Foreign Affairs Minister Adnan Mansour responded Tuesday to MP Walid Jumblatt’s comment that Mansour should have remained silent during the Arab League meeting, saying that he did not need lessons from anyone.
“If silence is the golden rule, then we should all be silent. But we seek democracy, meaning that everyone has the right to freedom of expression,” Mansour said in a statement. “I think everyone is covered by this right and consequently we do not need lessons from anyone."
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said during the meeting on Monday that an initiative proposed by the Arab League aimed at resolving the crisis in Syria was “unbalanced," prompting Jumblatt, a staunch critic of President Bashar Assad’s approach to the crisis in his country, to remark that Mansour should have held his tongue.
“It would be preferable were Lebanon’s representative to remain silent during Arab meetings rather than preach as to how an exit from the Syrian crisis should be reached,” said Jumblatt in his weekly editorial in the Progressive Socialist Party’s Al-Anbaa newspaper.
Jumblatt added that Mansour should “stick to the disassociation policy for now to prevent further undermining of Lebanon’s credibility," in reference to Lebanon's policy of disassociating itself from the turmoil in Syria.
Upon his arrival from an Arab League meeting dedicated to discussing the report on the monitors' month-long mission, which confirmed that Syria was complying with an Arab League plan to end the crisis in the country, Mansour told reporters that dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition was the only solution to the crisis.