Damascus Suggested Substitute for Suleiman

News circled in Beirut that Damascus suggested a substitute for army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman, the presidential candidate accepted by Lebanon”s warring camps.

 

Reports said that Damascus had informed Arab League chief Amr Moussa of its offer and that it had named a presidential candidate from a list previously drawn by Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir.

 

They said Moussa, however, rejected the offer, insisting that he will not bypass the three-point Arab plan which calls for the election of Suleiman as President.

 

Meanwhile, Syrian officials expressed their “support for the Arab initiative,” insisting that clarification of the plan was a “Lebanese concern.”

 

The officials said they informed Moussa of their unwillingness to go through what they called “the number game” each Lebanese party would get in a new cabinet.

 

A pro-opposition newspaper said Moussa”s talks in Damascus did not make any progress as Syrian officials refused to “go into details.”

 

Other sources said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad informed Moussa of Syria”s backing to Suleiman”s nomination for the presidency.

 

Assad, at the same time, informed Moussa that he cannot ask his allies in Lebanon for additional concessions regarding formation of a new cabinet, saying the opposition had already abandoned veto power in return for a 10+10+10 formula.

 

Moussa held renewed talks on Sunday with feuding political leaders in a bid to win support for the Arab plan to end the crisis in Lebanon which has been without a president since November 24.

 

The three-point initiative calls for the election of 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.

 

The ruling majority has accepted the bid but the Hizbullah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, demands that it be granted a third of the seats in a new government so the opposition can have veto power.