TFLE01: LEBANESE PARLIAMENT LEADER HARIRI VISITS

UNCLAS TUNIS 001943 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/MAG (HARRIS) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KPAO TS SUBJECT: TFLE01: LEBANESE PARLIAMENT LEADER HARIRI VISITS TUNISIA REF: A. TUNIS 1939 ¶B. TUNIS 1924 Tunisian newspapers carried July 29 a report of the July 28 visit to Tunis of Lebanese parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri to meet with Tunisian President Ben Ali. According to AFP press reports, the Tunis stop was part of a tour, including Algeria and Morocco, to mobilize support for Lebanon during the current crisis. According to the official GOT press release, Hariri asked Ben Ali's support for a cease-fire and thanked the Tunisian President for his "positions of support for Lebanon, as well as his call for Lebanese sovereignty throughout the entirety of the Lebanese territory." Hariri reportedly further thanked Ben Ali for Tunisia's humanitarian aid to Lebanon, and asked that the President "take advantage of all of Tunisia's international contacts to bring necessary pressure on Israel to stop its savage aggression against Lebanon." In his statement following his meeting with Ben Ali, Hariri said that Israeli aggression was an attempt to demoralize and divide the Lebanese people, but defended the will and unity of his fellow citizens. BALLARD