Lebanon”s top three leaders broker deal on state budget
Lebanon”s three top officials met on Wednesday in a bid to solve controversies surrounding the country”s state budget which has yet to be ratified. President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora held talks at Baabda Palace Wednesday evening and managed to broker a deal on the state budget, a well-informed ministerial source told The Daily Star.
"The deal reached with regards to the budget satisfies all groups," the source added.
Talks in Baabda were followed by a dinner, where the three top officials discussed recent developments on the Lebanese political scene.
Describing Lebanese-Syrian ties as "excellent," Sleiman said in an interview with Qatari daily Ash-Sharq published on Wednesday, that after the June 7 parliamentary polls more efforts would be exerted to normalize ties with Syria.
"Syrian and Lebanese interests are united, and the most dangerous threat that both our countries face is terrorism and requires us to join forces to combat it," he said.
Discussing the issue of the centrist bloc, Sleiman said he did not support any candidates for the spring elections and was not in need of his own parliamentary bloc. "This does not mean I reject independent candidates," he added.
Sleiman said that the cooperation between the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Resistance throughout the years was an example of what Lebanon”s defense strategy should be.
In other news, a visit to France by Sleiman on March 16-18 is intended to send a "message of confidence" to Lebanon.
Pan-Arab daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat said Wednesday France dedicates such high-level visits to states it has "good relations" with.
Citing high-ranking French diplomatic sources, the daily said Sleiman”s visit would tackle issues such as "the return of Lebanon to full sovereignty, the return of institutions, primarily the presidency, to exercise its functions in full."
The sources said choosing the time of the visit ahead of the June 7 parliamentary polls in Lebanon "carries a French message of faith in Lebanon and its democracy." It is also a message to encourage Lebanon to restore its full role, the sources added.
Separately, the opposition”s top four leaders are expected to meet in the "next few hours to continue deliberations on the upcoming legislative elections," The Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Wednesday.
The meeting will include Berri, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, former Interior Minister and Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh and Free patriotic leader MP Michel Aoun.
It quoted sources from the opposition as saying the leaders would "place the final touches on the distribution of seats among the minority."
Berri and Aoun are expected to hold one-on-one talks ahead of the mini-conference to "resolve a number of political and poll-related disagreements."
In other elections-related news, the March 14 Forces announced Wednesday the alliance would hold its second annual conference on March 14, 2009.
During a news conference Wednesday, MP Fares Soueid said the conference entitled "June 7: The Day the State Starts," would launch the electoral agenda and the alliance”s campaign, adding that this was the first time that several Lebanese political forces run in the elections with one agenda and on unified lists.
Media reports had said March 14 Forces would not announce their list of candidates during their second annual convention.
Also on Wednesday, the Lebanese Forces leader said any attempt for an Arab reconciliation must not neglect core issues such as cross-border weapons smuggling from Syria, the demarcation of Lebanese-Syrian borders and the armament of Palestinian refugee camps.
"Any serious effort toward an inter-Arab reconciliation must focus on [resolving] central disputes, which are not only political in nature but also strategic," Samir Geagea told a news conference in Kuwait City.
Geagea”s remarks coincided with a mini-Arab summit in Saudi Arabia between King Abdullah, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Egypt”s President Hosni Mubarak, in the latest sign of Saudi-Syrian thaw in frosty ties.
While assuring Kuwait”s emir of his support to Arab rapprochement, Geagea advised against neglecting issues that touch upon Lebanon”s sovereignty.
"How can we possibly envision reconciliation at a time when sisterly Syria still allows cross-border smuggling of weapons … and when certain [Arabs] still extend aid to armed camps in Lebanon?" he asked.
Geagea criticized the disenchantment of "some Arab sides" with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, set up to try the suspected killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
He asked "how can we even speak of reconciliation when there is an Arab country that still refuses to demarcate its borders with Lebanon and refuses to release the hundreds of Lebanese prisoners in its jails?"