Fortenberry Meets with Key Leaders during House Democracy Assistance Commission Visit to the Middle East and West Africa

MONROVIA, LIBERIA - Congressman Jeff Fortenberry and several other members of the House Democracy Assistance Commission concluded a series of high level meetings with key officials and parliamentarians in Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Senegal, and Liberia, including Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

“It is a privilege to serve as a member of the House Democracy Assistance Commission, helping to strengthen democratic principles and institutions,” Fortenberry said. “Additionally, it is my hope that our meetings will add to initiatives that help bring about lasting stability and peace.”

The group spoke with Middle East leaders about a wide range of regional security issues, civil and economic reforms, and U.S. engagement in the region. The group met for two hours with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and also met with Parliamentary Speaker Fathi Surour and other Egyptian parliamentarians to exchange views on regional challenges.

In Beirut, Lebanon, Fortenberry met with numerous parliamentarians and Prime Minister Siniora as part of an interparliamentary technical assistance program. Discussions also centered on the recent spike in violence in Lebanon and the creation of a tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the murder of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The U.N. Security Council subsequently approved the tribunal on May 30 and gives Lebanon's parliament until June 10 to establish the tribunal independently before the Security Council decision enters into force. Following the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri in 2005, Lebanon subsequently lost four parliamentarians in assassinations. Lebanon's parliamentary majority, headed by Saad Hariri, son of the late Prime Minister, views the tribunal as a key step to preclude further assassinations in Lebanon.

In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Olmert met with the group for a wide-ranging discussion on Middle East issues as well as prospects for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The group also met with members of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees and Palestinian parliamentarians in Ramallah, West Bank, to discuss reform issues and relations among the United States, Israel, and Arab nations.

The visit concluded with stops in Monrovia, Liberia and Dakar, Senegal. Fortenberry and Commission members met with Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first democratically elected woman president. Sirleaf succeeds Charles Taylor, Liberia's former president, who is scheduled to be tried for war crimes by the Special Court for Sierra Leone beginning June 4, 2007. Liberia is an emerging democracy in the process of rebuilding after years of brutal conflict which claimed more than 200,000 lives during the 1990s. The group is also conducting working meetings with Liberian legislators on the role of the legislature as an independent branch of government and observed a Town Hall meeting with legislators and constituents in Tubmanburg.

The House Democracy Assistance Commission was established in March 2005 to work with emerging democracies throughout the world to promote responsive, effective government and to strengthen democratic institutions by assisting legislatures. Representatives David Price (D-NC), Nick Rahall (D-WV), and Gwen Moore (D-WI) participated in the Congressional delegation visit to Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Liberia, and Senegal.

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