French President and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman called Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati on the phone together on Saturday to find a solution to the crisis between Beirut and Riyadh, Emmanuel Macron said in Jeddah.
“Saudi Arabia and France want to fully engage” with a view to a “re-engagement of the relationship” between the two countries after a serious diplomatic crisis, the head of state told reporters before leaving the country. city ​​on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. “Our will is also that the (Lebanese) government can work in a normal way, and meet as quickly as possible, and carry out the useful reforms”, he added, specifying that he would call on Sunday the Lebanese President Michel Aoun.
A crisis that lasts
The economic crisis in Lebanon has been worsened for several weeks by the open diplomatic quarrel with several Gulf States. Ryad recalled its ambassador to Beirut at the end of October and expelled the Lebanese ambassador following remarks by the Minister of Information Georges Kordahi criticizing the military intervention carried out by the Saudi kingdom at the head of a coalition in Yemen and defending the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in this country.
Georges Kordahi has since announced his resignation on Friday. Riyadh has also banned imports from Lebanon, and three other Gulf countries (Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait) have taken retaliatory measures against Beirut.
Paris and Riyadh will “work together, support reforms, allow the country to emerge from the crisis and preserve its sovereignty,” Emmanuel Macron stressed a little later on Twitter.