Rice Cancels Visit, March 14 Leaders Warn: Amend Constitution or the Government will Act
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice”s expected visit Wednesday was canceled only to be replaced by a series of meetings by her assistant for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams with March 14 leaders.
Rice”s change of plans came as March 14 leaders, in a late night meeting, set Saturday as an ultimatum for holding a “fruitful” parliamentary session aimed at amending the constitution, well informed sources told naharnet.
The meeting grouping al-Moustaqbal leader MP Saad Hariri, Druze leader Walid Jumblat, Phalange Party head Amin Gemayel, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and Premier Fouad Saniora warned against further postponement of the legislative session to elect a president.
The March 14 leaders rejected attempts to “interpret the constitution apart from the known basic rules,” and called for pursuing constitutional norms and channels in amending the constitution thus allowing the government to be a fundamental part of this process.
“If Speaker Nabih Berri didn”t convene the parliament on Saturday and the opposition”s MPs didn”t attend the session…the government will meet before Christmas to write down a bill to amend the constitution allowing the election of Gen. Michel Suleiman president and refer it to parliament to force MPs to shoulder their responsibilities,” the majority leaders warned.
On his part, Welch urged Berri, after talks with Saniora Tuesday, to “assume his constitutional responsibilities and a leadership role… and allow parliament to meet and to vote.”
“Members of parliament should elect a president without conditions and without any further delay,” he reiterated after a meeting with Hariri.
The U.S. official, on his second visit in four days, will hold a meeting with members of the March 14 alliance later Wednesday.
He has accused the opposition of blocking the presidential vote in parliament and said Berri should call a session without further delay to elect a successor to Emile Lahoud, who quit at the end of his term on November 23.
The vote has been postponed nine times since September amid a tug-of-war between the majority and the opposition, with the last session Monday delayed again until Saturday.
The majority and the opposition have agreed in principle to elect Suleiman but remain at odds on how to
amend the constitution to allow a senior public servant to become president.
The majority wants the vote to go ahead as soon as possible, but the opposition is demanding that it be preceded by a “basket” of guarantees on who would lead a new government and how many cabinet seats each camp would get.
Berri dismissed Welch”s criticism in a statement issued by his office on Tuesday. “Speaker Berri knows very well his responsibilities and hopes that others know theirs too.
“Welch should put pressure on those who listen to him and obey him so that they, too, shoulder their responsibilities,” the statement said, in reference to the Western-backed majority.
Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun, a pillar of the Hizbullah-led opposition and top negotiator for the opposition, slammed U.S. policies in Lebanon and Welch”s failure to meet with him.
“U.S. policies represent a danger for Lebanon. Welch”s visit is incomplete and will not lead to a solution,” he added.
Picture: (AFP/D&N-HO)