Suleiman Franjieh: Sfeir is Employed by U.S-French Ebassies
Opposition Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh lashed out at Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir on Tuesday, describing the patriarch as an employee of the American and French diplomatic missions. “With due respect to our patriarch he is an employee of the US and French embassies,” he told reporters after talks with former president Emile Lahoud.
Asked to comment on a French threat to take the Lebanese crisis to the UN Security Council, Franjieh said: “Let them do whatever they want. What would internationalization do? It would bring us another [US-backed Afghan President] Hamid Karzai.
“But we already have one,” he added in reference to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday that Lebanon”s political crisis would have to be taken to the UN if an Arab League effort to end the impasse failed.
Earlier Tuesday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned of dangerous consequences if the current Arab efforts fail to put an end to Lebanon”s presidential crisis. Mubarak said the Arab plan is Lebanon”s last chance after US and European initiatives failed.
The three-point plan was introduced earlier this month at an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo. It calls for the immediate election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as president, the formation of a national unity government, and the drafting of a new electoral law for the 2009 parliamentary polls.
The anti-Syrian majority and the Damascus-backed opposition have agreed on electing Suleiman for the nation”s top post, but are at odds over the shape of the future Cabinet.
“The Arab plan presents the best mechanism to end the crisis. The failure to adopt this plan will yield dangerous consequences,” Mubarak said, his second alert to Lebanese parties after he warned Sunday that Lebanon “will be lost” if the contending camps fail to adopt the Arab initiative.
Mubarak told Swiss daily Tages Anzeiger Monday that failure to end Lebanon”s impasse will reflect negatively on the fate of an upcoming Arab summit in Damascus scheduled for March.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed frustration over the failure of Lebanon”s Parliament to elect a new president.
“There is an Arab initiative and it should have been dealt with more seriously,” he told As-Safir newspaper.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa is expected in Beirut on Wednesday in a bid to resume his mediation efforts.
The Central News Agency on Tuesday quoted sources close to the Arab League as saying Moussa would urge Lebanese parties to start by implementing the first item of the Arab initiative – the election of Suleiman.
Afterward, the Arab League would continue its efforts to ensure the implementation of the rest of the initiative.
The sources added that Moussa would travel to Damascus on Friday for talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem. The Damascus visit is then to be followed by a visit to Saudi Arabia, where Moussa will brief the Saudi officials on the outcome of his efforts.
“If his efforts fail, Moussa will find himself forced to submit a report specifying who is to be blamed for the failure of his mission. Other than the Arab League, the report might be also presented to the UN secretary general and the EU,” the sources said.
The opposition has been striving to attain veto power in the Cabinet since the resignation of its six ministers in November 2006. The governing coalition has repeatedly said it will not allow the opposition to unilaterally block Cabinet decisions.
Leaders of the ruling March 14 coalition suggested that the opposition get no more than 10 ministers in the next Cabinet, leaving 14 for them, and six for the president. Under this formula, veto power (one-third plus one) is shared between the president and the opposition. The Arab plan did not specify the shape of the new Cabinet, but said power should be distributed in such a way that prevents any party from imposing or blocking decisions.
Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil told The Daily Star that there were different interpretations of the Arab plan.
“Let us wait and see what Moussa brings with him on Wednesday,” he said.
In comments to As-Safir on Tuesday, the opposition requested that the Arab League clarify its initiative, namely the part related to the formation of the unity government.
Local news reports said Tuesday Moussa will try to arrange a meeting between majority leader MP Saad Hariri and Christian opposition leader MP Michel Aoun. The same leaders failed to meet last week after Hariri rejected the idea of bilateral talks and said he preferred a broader dialogue.
Reports said Moussa still hoped to fix a Hariri-Aoun meeting to be followed by roundtable talks that include other leaders as well.
Khalil said “chances are high” a meeting between Aoun and Hariri will take place soon.
A source close to Hariri told The Daily Star on Tuesday that the majority leader does not mind meeting Aoun if the agenda of the meeting is restricted to the implementation of the Arab initiative. “Aoun is speaking about electing a president through popular vote and forming a transitional government. This has nothing to do with the Arab initiative and cannot be the basis for any meeting,” the source added.
“If Moussa comes on Wednesday to say Aoun wants to discuss with MP Hariri the implementation of the Arab plan, then Hariri will not hesitate to meet the general,” the source said.
On Tuesday, the March 14 Forces issued a statement which said their priority was to elect Suleiman for president.
The statement doubted the opposition was dealing seriously with the Arab initiative, and criticized Aoun for proposing electing a new president through popular vote.
“The opposition is continuing to create obstacles because the Syrian regime has not yet decided to adopt the general Arab vision for Lebanon,” it said.
The statement also accused Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah of raising the issue of an “Islamic government.”
In a speech on Sunday, Nasrallah said an “Islamic government is not possible in Lebanon, but this does not mean that Islamists should stay away from their country”s politics.”