14 May 2008… Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit held various contacts with a number of his Arab and European counterparts concerning the situation in Lebanon, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry stated. He outlined that Aboul Gheit will carry on his contacts with the parties, concerned with the Lebanese issue, within the framework of the keenness on building a unified stance supporting the Arab demarche. This aims at reducing the current tensions and reaching a settlement for the political crisis in accordance with the Arab initiative. The Foreign Minister's latest contact was with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, where the two ministers exchanged views concerning the latest incidents in Lebanon. Aboul Gheit and Lavrov discussed the means to end the Lebanese crisis and to support the Lebanese people overcome the political crisis chocking the country, stated the spokesman. Aboul Gheit also held talks, on the same subject matter, with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos, during the latter's stop in Cairo on May 13th. The two ministers agreed that the policy of resorting to armed violence to achieve political goals, has proved to be a failure in Lebanon, and that it did not lead to the dominance of one sect over another. On the contrary it led to the continuation of vain confrontations. Aboul Gheit and Moratinos also agreed to continue consultations over the Lebanese issue to assist in appeasing the situation and ending the current crisis.