Sleiman leads high-powered team to Saudi Arabia
President Michel Sleiman arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday for talks with King Abdullah. A statement released by Sleiman”s media office said that an initial meeting had focused on enhancing bilateral relations between the two countries.
Sleiman headed an official delegation which also included Deputy Premier Issam Abu Jamra, Education Minister Bahia Hariri, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi, Economy Minister Mohammad Safadi, and Minister of State Nassib Lahoud.
Sleiman”s media office said the president would remain in Saudi Arabia for two days.
The kingdom was Sleiman”s fifth foreign destination, since his election in late May, following earlier visits to France, Qatar, Syria, and the United States. The president is also expected to visit Egypt, Canada, and Iran in the coming weeks.
Also Sunday, Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun headed to Tehran for talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other officials.
Aoun told reporters before leaving from Beirut”s Rafik Hariri International Airport that his visit was aimed at building friendly ties. "Friendship with Iran is not an accusation," the former Lebanese Armed Forces commander said.
He was accompanied by MP Edgar Maalouf and senior FPM official Pierre Raffoul.
In response to a question about whether he was seeking money and weapons from Iran, Aoun said that such possibility would only be true if it were aimed at "balancing the cash and arms that other parties are already receiving," hinting at his rivals in the March 14 alliance.
Aoun”s opponents, including former MP Fares Soueid, criticized him for visiting "Syria”s closest ally" on the 18th anniversary of "the Syrian Army”s invasion of Baabda Palace on October 13, 1990."
He was referring to one of the closing acts in Lebanon”s 1975-1990 Civil War, when a "War of Liberation" led by Aoun was crushed by Syrian troops.
"Is it a coincidence to see Aoun visiting Syria”s closest ally on this particular date?" Soueid asked.
"Anyway, it is normal for Aoun to visit Tehran in 2008 after he visited former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 1989 and may visit the Taliban in 2028," the former MP quipped.
Former President Amin Gemayel also criticized Aoun for "attacking Saudi Arabia on the eve of Sleiman”s visit."
Aoun said in a speech on Saturday that some Lebanese Christians were being swayed by Saudi petrodollars. Saudi Arabia is a major backer of parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, a rival of the FPM leader.
Aoun also accused the March 14 alliance of depending on the United States and Saudi Arabia following Syria”s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2005. "The Syrians withdrew," he said, "but dependence on Americans and Saudis continued."
Meanwhile, a reconciliation meeting between Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh seemed closest than ever as LF MPs George Adwan and Antoine Zahra said Sunday that their party had accepted Aoun”s participation in the meeting.
Adwan told LBC television that Geagea had accepted Aoun”s attendance because "further delay in holding this meeting will reflect negatively on the country”s Christians."
"We had no preconditions for reconciliation, but Franjieh has been insisting on Aoun”s participation for what he said were moral reasons," he said, adding that Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir had given his blessing for the meeting.
Adwan stressed that the meeting would not be held until both Aoun and Sleiman returned from abroad.
For his part, Zahra said that the LF had decided to accept Aoun”s attendance at a meeting "for the sake of preserving Christian interests."
In a related development, March 14 MPs Butros Harb and Nayla Mouawad said on Sunday that they were satisfied with Geagea”s approval of Aoun”s participation in the LF-Marada reconciliation.
Mouawad told Voice of Lebanon radio station that she was delighted by Geagea”s position, and Harb stressed that the reconciliation would help Christians "turn a bitter page in their history."
"Geagea”s recent position proves that he is willing to open a new page of cooperation among Christian leaders in the country," Harb said, adding that he was ready to help in facilitating the rapprochement.
The Maronite League”s ongoing efforts to reconcile rival Christian leaders started in the aftermath of a shooting incident in the northern town of Bsarma which led to the death of Marada”s Youssef Franjieh and the LF”s Pierre Ishaq.
Military Investigating Magistrate Rashid Mezher issued arrest warrants on Friday for three suspects in the Bsarma shooting. The three were identified as Karam Jerjes, Michel Michael, and Youssef Tawk.
On Saturday, Youth and Sports Minister Talal Arslan said he would host a meeting this week between Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt and a Hizbullah delegation at his residence in Khaldeh.
Local daily Al-Akhbar said on Saturday that the Hizbullah delegation would be headed by MP Mohammad Raad.
Arslan said security concerns were preventing Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, widely viewed as a prime target for assassination by Israeli forces, from personally meeting Jumblatt. Similar concerns are also delaying a meeting between Nasrallah and Hariri.
A Hizbullah delegation visited Hariri at his Qoreitem residence late last month in order to "break the ice" between the two parties following deadly clashes in May between Hizbullah-led fighters and pro-government gunmen.