02 September 2008

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman began a two-day visit to Qatar on Monday to discuss economic cooperation and the May deal reached in Doha to end the protracted political crisis in Lebanon. Sleiman was greeted by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and top aides, according to the official Qatari News Agency.

Sleiman and other members of his delegation will discuss with their Qatari hosts the implementation of the Doha Accord, which was struck on May 21 between Lebanon's rival political factions, as well as economic cooperation.

"The bilateral talks will start on 9 p.m. on Monday, after which dinner will be served," a Baabda Palace statement said earlier in the day.

The delegation includes Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, Economy Minister Mohammad Safadi, and other officials.

The Doha agreement paved the way for the election of Sleiman on May 25 and a new national unity government that was set up in July. The agreement put an end to an 18-month political crisis in Lebanon, and came after deadly factional fighting that pushed the country to the brink of renewed civil war.

Ahead of his departure, Sleiman received a delegation of MPs from the March 14 Forces coalition who presented a letter asking him to back a proposed constitutional amendment which would make the resettlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon virtually impossible.

The proposal was carried to Sleiman by MPs Butros Harb, Akram Chehayeb, Ammar Houri, Atef Majdalani, Michel Pharaon, Ghazi Youssef, and Antoine Zahra.

Also Monday, Parliament's Administration and Justice Committee met with representatives from the media to discuss regulations for coverage of next year's parliamentary elections.

MP Robert Ghanem, who chairs the committee, told reporters after the meeting that committee members had been interested in hearing feedback on the new regulations, which are aimed at preventing media outlets from unduly influencing voters.

Ghanem said that he hoped that a new electoral law, which will include the media regulations and other reforms, will be sent to Parliament before September 25.

Other reforms include allowing Lebanese emigrants to vote abroad and lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader and MP Walid Jumblatt called for removing all posters and images of politicians from the streets of Beirut.

"Political posters are creating tensions and it would be much better if we removed them ... A bold decision needs to be taken in this regard," he told the PSP's Al-Anbaa weekly.

Shortly after his election as president in May, Sleiman called on citizens to remove his picture from the streets and advised the country's politicians to take a similar measure.

Sleiman's request was ignored and in some cases more posters were erected.

Jumblatt also said that a foreign policy of positive neutrality and non-alignment was all that was needed to safeguard Lebanon against regional and international conflicts.

In addition, he called for a "serious and responsible" dialogue that addressed all the country's contentious issues.

"Only such a dialogue is capable of establishing a new era of trust in Lebanon," he said.

Sleiman will soon chair a national dialogue, which would focus on discussing a defense strategy for Lebanon.

In a related development, Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea urged Sleiman to call for the holding of the dialogue "as soon as possible."

Geagea made his comments during a visit to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir on Monday.

The LF leader also asked Sfeir to head the annual memorial service for his party's "martyrs," scheduled for September 21.

For his part, Future Movement MP Ahmad Fatfat offered a mixed reaction to a weekend speech by Speaker Nabih Berri during a ceremony to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr, a Shiite cleric who founded berri's Amal Movement.

Sadr's whereabouts remain unknown since he disappeared while on a visit to Libya in 1978. Lebanon last week issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi over the disappearance of the imam and his two companions on August 31, 1978.

Fatfat said that Berri had distinguished himself from Hizbullah by rejecting any group's "monopoly on resistance."

Berri said on Sunday that no party had the right to monopolize the resistance or have exclusive control over a specific area in the country.

"This also applies to Beirut, which should not be monopolized by the parliamentary majority," the speaker added.

Fatfat was less enthusiastic about Berri's suggestion to form a joint committee between the army and the resistance in order to cooperate on security issues and avoid incidents like last week's helicopter shooting.

"I was really terrified by this proposal ... It reminded me of past civil war years," Fatfat said.

A Lebanese military helicopter was targeted by Hizbullah fire in the South last Thursday, leading to the death of First Lieutenant Samer Hanna.

Hizbullah handed over the assailant on Friday and said that the helicopter was mistaken for an Israeli one. 

Addressing Berri's fears regarding an alleged flow of arms to some areas in the North, Fatfat accused Hizbullah of arming some groups in the North and said that many people took up arms for the purpose of self-defense. - With AFP

© Copyright The Daily Star 2008.

 

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