Lebanese Turn Down French Offer To Host Talks
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Local politicians dismissed on Sunday a French offer to host a meeting between Speaker Nabih Berri, parliamentary majority leader MP Saad HaririSaad-Hariri-Profile Sep-07 and Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun. France had made the offer over the weekend to host the inter-Lebanese dialogue in a last-ditch effort to resolve the political crisis and elect a president.
Speaking to OTV, Aoun expressed his readiness to hold a bilateral meeting with Hariri in Paris, but said he was surprised when France expanded that meeting to include 'half the participants in the Lebanese national dialogue.' He said this development had exposed the ruling coalition's intention to create a rift between Rabieh and Ain al-Tineh and avoid meeting the opposition's demands.
Aoun also warned that if Premier Fouad Siniora holds a Cabinet meeting to issue a draft law to amend the Constitution he would 'burn any settlement and bury all initiatives' aimed at resolving the crisis.
Culture Minister Tareq Mitri, speaking to the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) Sunday, said the government will prepare a draft law to amend the Constitution at its next Cabinet meeting in order to facilitate the election of Lebanese Armed Forces commander General Michel Suleiman.
He insisted the government will do its duty, but acknowledged that such a draft law issued by a government the opposition considers unconstitutional may not solve the problem 'as long as there is a desire from outside parties or from within to hinder the election.'
Resigned Labor Minister Trad Hamadeh, responding to Mitri's comments, said the Lebanese people will not accept Siniora assuming presidential powers or using them, adding that the premier only wants power, not a solution to the crisis.
Berri told the As-Safir newspaper in remarks published Saturday that if no president is elected on December 29 and the session is postponed again, he would continue to 'set weekly sessions in January until we elect a president.'
Lebanese Forces boss Samir Geagea said Syria wants to control all of Lebanon and that MPs must elect a new head of state even if Suleiman is dropped as a consensus candidate.
Geagea told the LBC Sunday that a persistent vacancy in the presidency is unacceptable.
'If General Suleiman withdrew [his candidacy] we will still push toward an election of a new president because we are bound by Article 74 of the Constitution.' Article 74 stipulates that should the presidency become vacant for any reason 'the Chamber meets immediately and by virtue of the law to elect a successor.'
Geagea said the positions of US President George W. Bush and the March 14 alliance are not identical. 'We want to elect Suleiman as a consensus president while in his comments Bush referred to other options,' Geagea said.
Bush called last week for the election of a new Lebanese president by a simple majority, an option the March 14 alliance is not considering at this time. Geagea urged Aoun to 'let us sit and talk' to end the crisis.
Geagea accused the opposition of following the Syrian lead. 'They propose a basket of conditions that are identical to what [Syrian Foreign Minister Walid] Moallem is asking for.'
Democratic Gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt said that Suleiman's election would be good for everyone, good for the resistance and good for the fight against terrorism. He said any delay in electing the army commander to the presidency will not be in anyone's interest.
Speaking to several media outlets on Sunday, Jumblatt said there will be no going back on electing Suleiman as president and he will remain 'now and tomorrow' the majority's 'final choice.' Jumblatt said that Hariri shares this position and that there will never be a return to the half-plus-one option for electing a president.
Jumblatt had telephoned Berri on Sunday and understood from him that an electoral session will not convene before a political agreement is reached between rival camps. |
