Keep the Game within Institutions
President Michel Suleiman, in a phone call with the premier, called Wednesday for an end to "incitements and a return to calm."
He called on politicians to keep "the (political) game confined to the walls of the institutions."
The phone call came amid heightened tensions between Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and Speaker Nabih Berri over the Council of the South budget crisis.
Bickering between Berri and Saniora escalated last week into a war of words after the former held on to his demand for allocating LL 60 billion to the Council, a request rejected by the premier.
Ministerial sources told Voice of Lebanon radio station that Saniora "absolutely refuses" a return to how the file was being handled. They added the prime minister sees an urgent need to "put an end to blackmailing."
Suleiman earlier held a one-hour meeting with Berri, who left the presidential palace without giving a statement.