Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 14, 1997

The members of the African seminar came. Mr. [Abbas] Maliki, [Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs] reported, and I also spoke about the causes of Africa's backwardness, the destructive role of colonialism, tribal differences, and the weakness of manpower, and expressed my readiness to transfer Iran's experiences to Africa. Mr. Maliki came. He expressed his displeasure with Salam newspaper's attacks on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs these days. I told them to defend.

Mr. [Alireza] Elahi [Qami], the son-in-law of the late Ayatollah Araki, came to thank me for my attention to Bandar Dilam and that I had mentioned his name there, and he criticized one of the sons of the late Araki who has taken over the affairs and does not care about the other members of the family. He consulted about the property that is in the name of Mr. Araki and they know that it is not personal property and belongs to the public.

The Lebanese delegation came. The cooperation between the two countries was discussed. They thanked Iran for supporting Lebanon against Israel's aggression. The Persian Language Development Council had a meeting, they reported and asked for more help. In the evening, the Supreme Economic Council had a meeting with several resolutions.

I was the guest of the leader tonight. Today they came from a trip to Mashhad. They are satisfied with the rest and good weather of Mashhad. They talked about the return of European ambassadors. They accept the plan of inviting the ambassadors to participate in the swearing-in ceremony, but they say that the invitation to the German ambassador should be done after the arrival of the others, and that appropriate publicity should be done after their return. It is unlikely that they will accept.

Regarding the retention of Mr. Velayati [in the cabinet of the new government], they said that they did not say such a thing and that Mr. Velayati may not have properly justified what he said. Regarding the members of the cabinet, they also said that Mr. Khatami, [President-elect], has not definitively proposed a name. Experts do not agree with the delay proposal regarding the election of the parliament.