Suleiman Hosts Jumblat, Aoun for Reconciliation Meeting
Baabda palace hosts Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun for a reconciliatory meeting on Wednesday.
The reconciliation between the two men was the second such move by President Michel Suleiman to bring together top leaders in as many weeks. Suleiman hosted Jumblat and Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh for a meeting last week.
Jumblat told As Safir daily in remarks published Wednesday that the meeting with Aoun was necessary. "We have already agreed that national obligations compel us to leave debatable issues to the dialogue table."
Minister Jebran Bassil, who visited Suleiman on the eve of the meeting, said the reconciliation is expected to facilitate dialogue between the two sides over several topics, including the issue of the displaced.
The Jumblat-Aoun meeting would also lay the groundwork for coexistence in the mountains in the coming period, Bassil added.
State Minister Wael Abou Faour told Voice of Lebanon radio on Wednesday that the meeting between the two MPs comes as part of openness to all sides, and expressed readiness for the PSP to meet with the FPM.
Jumblat and Aoun held their last face-to-face meeting in Paris in April 2005 although the two men used to meet in parliament and Baabda palace while attending national dialogue sessions.