Beirut
Arab League efforts headed by Secretary General Amr Mussa have
failed to resolve a stalemate over Lebanon's presidency as Mussa
prepared to leave the country Saturday.
Mussa, who arrived in Beirut Wednesday, has described the situation
in Lebanon as "dangerous", but said he would return to the Lebanese
capital Thursday or Friday.
Lebanon has been without a president since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud
stepped down on Nov 23 because of bitter rivalry between the pro and
anti-Syrian camps.
A source close to Mussa said: "The Arab League official felt during
his two-day marathon talks that all leaders in Lebanon are keen to
resolve the crisis, but no one is taking the initiative.
"The situation in Lebanon is also difficult because it is linked to
regional tensions."
A Lebanese opposition source, close to the radical Shia movement
Hezbollah, said: "The ruling (anti-Syrian) majority has refused to
accept a bilateral meeting between the head of the majority Saad
Hariri and (hardline Christian) opposition leader Michel Aoun.
"Failing to achieve this meeting caused a setback to Mussa's mission
in Lebanon."
Observers believe that the majority has refused to meet Aoun because
they do not want him to appear as "the sole Christian leader who
represents all the Christians in the country".
The Lebanese opposition has named Aoun their spokesman in the
negotiations with Mussa.
A 12th parliamentary session to elect Lebanon's president was
postponed Friday to Jan 21 despite intense international efforts to
get the rival parties to agree on an Arab League compromise.
Berri said that he postponed the session after meeting Mussa in the
hope that an agreement would be reached on an Arab plan "very soon"
to end the presidential crisis.
The Arab initiative is based on a three-point plan that calls for
the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, the
formation of a national-unity government in which no one party has
veto power and the adoption of a new electoral law.
Although the ruling coalition has given the plan its full backing,
Hezbollah is insisting the opposition be granted a third of the
seats in a new 30-member government so as to have the veto power
over key decisions.
The Arab plan calls for the majority to hold 14 seats in the new
cabinet, the opposition 10 seats and Suleiman would be able to pick
six ministers, making him the arbiter in any contested decisions.
Chafik al-Masri, a political analyst, said the stalemate would
stretch until March and could continue possibly until the 2009
legislative elections. "The regional issues are prevailing heavily
on the situation in Lebanon, especially the upcoming legislative
elections in Iran, the US elections and the Arab summit to be held
in Syria in March," Masri added.
The crisis between the two camps is widely seen as an extension of
the regional confrontation pitting US and its allies against Syria
and Iran.
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