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Germany, Saudi Arabia to restore envoys after Lebanon row
UNITED NATIONS, United States, Sept 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Germany and Saudi
Arabia on Tuesday agreed to return ambassadors some 10 months after the
kingdom fumed over criticism about its role in Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia, which has increasingly challenged Western governments who
speak out on its record, in November recalled its ambassador from Berlin
following the eyebrow-raising resignation of Saad Hariri as Lebanon’s prime
minister while visiting Riyadh.
Sigmar Gabriel, who was then Germany’s foreign minister, said that
Lebanon’s neighbors should let the recovering country decide its own fate,
angering Saudi Arabia which like Hariri denied that he was coerced.
Gabriel’s successor Heiko Maas, meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel
al-Jubeir on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly, voiced regret
and said the two countries would send back ambassadors.
“In recent months our relations have witnessed misunderstandings which
stand in sharp contrast to our otherwise strong and strategic ties with the
kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and we sincerely regret this,” Maas told reporters.
“We should have been clearer in our communication and engagement in order
to avoid such misunderstandings.”
Jubeir, speaking next to Maas, invited him to visit and affirmed “deep
strategic ties” with Germany.
“The kingdom and Germany play a leading role in bolstering international
security and stability and the global economy,” Jubeir said.
Saudi Arabia, which has especially close ties with US President Donald
Trump, has increasingly made clear it would not tolerate reprimands.
Last month Riyadh expelled the ambassador of Canada and froze all new trade
after Ottawa denounced a crackdown on activists in the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia similarly pulled its ambassador from Sweden in 2015 over human
rights criticism.
Hariri, who eventually returned to Lebanon and reversed his resignation,
also holds Saudi and French nationality.
The episode was seen as the latest chapter in Saudi Arabia’s intensifying
feud with regional rival Iran after Hariri improved ties with longtime rival
Hezbollah, a militant Shiite movement backed by Tehran.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0825 hrs