U.S. SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice stopped over at Larnaca Airport yesterday, on her way to the Middle East for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Twenty minutes after she arrived on the island from Ireland at 12.28pm, she left on an American military helicopter accompanied by another two choppers.
She left Cyprus at 12.48pm after a short discussion with Foreign Minister George Lillikas on her airplane.
They then departed to an unknown destination, with the American authorities not revealing whether they were leaving for Lebanon or Israel. Civil Aviation officials said they did not know where the helicopters were heading for security reasons, but state radio later announced that Rice had landed in Beirut.
She was due to fly to Israel for talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, before discussing the Lebanon crisis with European and Arab officials in Rome tomorrow.
“It is very important to establish conditions under which a ceasefire can take place. We believe that a ceasefire is urgent,” Rice said during her visit.
“It is important to have conditions that will make it also sustainable,” she told reporters.
Nearly two weeks into the conflict, Washington has finally bowed to international pressure to take a more active role in the search for a diplomatic solution to the war.
Rice left the US capital on Sunday amid increasing condemnation from the UN and Britain over the scale of the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon. Criticism is likely to mount after the US was forced to admit that it was expediting the delivery of 5,000lb laser-guided ‘bunker buster’ bombs to Israel under an agreement reached between the two countries last year.
With the US ruling out direct talks with Syria and Hezbollah and with Arab allies refusing to host the emergency meeting because of the White House’s rejection of an immediate ceasefire, Rice arrives in the region at a time of intense distrust of American motives.
She is almost wholly reliant on Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan to pressure Damascus into disarming Hezbollah.
As she left Rice said that there was “no quick fix” and that diplomacy would be difficult.
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