LEBANON: European ministers press rival Lebanese groups to agree on a President, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'alema warns against attacks on UNIFIL

Lebanon's parliament will delay electing a president next week allowing more time for rival pro- and anti-Syrian groups to agree on a compromise candidate as European ministers press rivals to agree. Lebanon's parliament will delay electing a president next week, political sources said on Saturday (October 20), allowing more time for rival pro and anti-Syrian groups to agree on a compromise candidate. This would be the second postponement in electing a president, a step seen as vital to resolving an 11-month-old crisis pitting the anti-Syrian ruling majority against the opposition, led by pro-Syrian Hezbollah. There are fears that if no president is elected before the term of pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud expires on November 23, Lebanon may end up with two rival governments and bloodshed. The political crisis is the worst since the 1975-1990 civil war. The foreign ministers of France, Italy and Spain met on Saturday with several Lebanese leaders in a flurry of diplomacy intended to nudge them towards a resolution of the presidential deadlock. Opposition MPs boycotted parliament on September 25 to prevent a two-thirds quorum and thwart anti-Syrian factions, which have a razor-thin majority, from electing a new head of state. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's backers, including the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, want to replace Lahoud with one of their own. Syrian troops intervened in Lebanon to end its civil war and Damascus dominated Lebanese politics until the assassination of former premier Rafik al-Hariri in 2005 provoked a wave of mass anti-Syrian protests. Syria was forced to withdraw its forces after a 29-year military presence in Lebanon. Seven other anti-Syrian figures have been killed since the Hariri slaying, including most recently MP Antoine Ghanem. Leading Lebanese anti-Syrian figures blame Damascus for the killings, a charge Damascus denies. Hezbollah and its allies in the opposition want to deny the presidency to their rivals, whom they regard as puppets of the United States. The three foreign ministers held talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, leader of the opposition Shi'ite Amal group, Siniora and the influential Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir. They later met party leaders and representatives from across the political spectrum at the French ambassador's residence. "We all felt that the situation was improving, moving towards the better," Kouchner said after the last meeting. "I can say that at the end of this long day and with the exception of some small issues, there is positive dialogue. They are not all in agreement ... but they are prepared to negotiate their differences to reach a solution. Themselves alone, not us on behalf of them." Saad al-Hariri, the son and political heir of the late Hariri, and Berri met on Friday (October 19) to discuss potential candidates. Earlier the ministers visited their respective U.N. peacekeeping contingents in south Lebanon which are part of a UNIFIL force expanded last year as part of a Security Council resolution that halted a war between Hezbollah and Israel. UNIFIL has been the target of attacks, the most serious of which killed six U.N. troops from the Spanish battalion in June. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'alema warned against such attacks, saying no one should even think of carrying them out. "There is a terrorist threat in south Lebanon as well, but ... I tell you that we are here to do our work and no one should even think of threatening the international forces that are in Lebanon," D'alema said after the last meeting. "If there are some terrorists who are thinking of this, then they are wrong ."

ITN Source | October 21, 2007

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