Geagea predicts more killings, says his name is on the list

 

Lebanese Forces boss Samir Geagea predicted Thursday more assassinations against politicians of the parliamentary majority in Lebanon and said that his name was among other names on the target list. In an interview with BBC television, Geagea accused Syria of being behind such plots.

 

He said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri wanted to visit Saudi Arabia in a bid to mediate between Riyadh and Damascus, thus putting more pressure on Lebanon”s ruling coalition.

 

Berri, who visited Syria, Egypt, and Qatar, is also expected to visit Riyadh, but Saudi officials have yet to set an appointment for the speaker.

 

Commenting on Berri”s proposal about dropping the opposition”s demand of forming a unity government in return for approval by the ruling majority of the adoption of the qada-based 1960 electoral law in the next parliamentary elections, Geagea said the March 14 Forces were still not sure if Berri was speaking for himself or on behalf of the entire opposition.

 

Despite the fact that Berri”s proposed dialogue is not likely to take place ahead of the April 22 Parliament session to elect a president, Amal Movement MP Ali Hassan Khalil said Thursday Berri was still committed to holding national talks.

 

Khalil said Berri”s proposed dialogue was aimed at facilitating the implementation of the three-point Arab initiative.

 

Meanwhile, MP Michel Murr, who recently split from Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun”s Reform and Change bloc, challenged Metn MPs in the bloc to contest him in elections in a month”s time.

“I did not ask any bloc member to take the same step I did, but I challenge the Metn MPs within the bloc to resign and contest me in elections after a month from now. In the outcome of the elections, I will either go home or the people responsible for obstructing the presidential election will go home,” Murr said.

 

In an interview with NBN television late Wednesday, Murr said his position on the need to elect a new president as soon as possible is not new to the Reform and Change bloc.

 

“When I was still a member of the bloc, I told my colleagues more than once that we should not be blocking the election of Army Commander Michel Suleiman as president,” Murr said.
 

“After we agreed on a consensus candidate who was acceptable to both the opposition and the parliamentary majority, the Arab initiative came to restore the privileges of the Christian president that were stripped from him by the Taif Accord,” he added. Murr argued that the three-way power sharing formula proposed by the initiative was an important asset for the Christian president, who was almost marginalized by the 1989 constitutional amendments.

 

The Taif Accord introduced major amendments to the Constitution and as a result the privileges of the country”s Christian president were diminished in favor of the Cabinet.

 

While denying that he was at personal odds with Aoun, Murr said he was ready to convince Aoun”s allies in the opposition to head to Parliament and elect a president if Aoun himself takes such step.

 

In a related development, former President Amin Gemayel”s adviser Salim Sayegh said Murr and Gemayel had a phone conversation Thursday.

 

Sayegh added that the two leaders would soon meet to discuss the measures to be taken in order to end the ongoing presidential vacuum.