Lebanon’s mission to Abidjan, may be too little too late

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Shami said in a press conference on Tuesday that a diplomatic delegation consisting of three ambassadors and two advisers will leave for Abidjan through Accra in Ghana on Thursday to help the Lebanese community there.

The delegation will include: Haitham Jomaa, Mansour Abdullah, Mohammad Hajjar, Qabalan Franjieh and Hatem Nasrallah, Shami said.

The Lebanese expatriate in Côte d’Ivoire reportedly came under threat after Lebanon’s ambassador meddled in the internal affairs of the country by attending the swearing-in ceremony of Laurent Gbagbo, the controversial strongman who has refused to step down despite rival Alassane Ouattara being internationally recognized as having won the country’s elections.

Their visit may be too little too late one analyst told Ya Libnan ,” since the Fighters loyal to Gbagbo stopped fighting and the French Foreign minister is reportedly negotiating Gbagbo’s surrender and departure ” adding ” this could be over in hours at most” since some reports say he has already surrendered

The analyst added: ” I hope the Lebanese ambassador will learn not to meddle in the affairs of other countries in the future, specially when you have 70,000 Lebanese expatriates living in the country.”