| 19 Nov 2009 |
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Sleiman hosts reconciliation talks between Jumblatt and Franjieh
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19 November 2009
BEIRUT: The latest political reconciliation between rivals from across the March 14 and opposition camps took place at Baabda Palace Wednesday, when Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblatt sat down for talks with Suleiman Franjieh, the leader of the Marada movement. President Michel Sleiman hosted the reconciliatory meeting at the presidential palace, after which both politicians left without making statements to the media.
However, well informed sources told The Daily Star that discussions were positive as Jumblatt and Franjieh agreed on future meetings between delegations of their respective groups, in a bid to open a new page of cooperation that would serve Lebanon’s best interests.
The bad blood between Jumblatt and Franjieh was a by-product of the post-Hariri assassination period in the country, although the two didn’t enjoy particularly close ties prior to that, when they at times coexisted in the government.
After the killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri in February 2005, the Druze leader regularly criticized pro-Syrian allies in Lebanon of being mere “tools” and “stooges” of Damascus, while Franjieh was one of the staunchest defenders of the Baathist regime.
However, in the wake of May 2008, when a government decision that affected Hizbullah’s telecommunications network sparked a week of bloody civil strife, Jumblatt has mended his fences with several of his rivals, including Talal Arslan and Wi’am Wahhab in the Druze community, as well as Hizbullah. In August, Jumblatt pulled out of the March 14 coalition and has sought a more centrist position.
Separately, Marada official Vera Yammine denied that Franjieh’s meeting with Jumblatt aimed to mediate contact between the latter and Damascus, in order to pave the way for a visit by Jumblatt to Syria.
“Franjieh is concerned with playing a conciliatory role based on his consensual position,” she said, adding that the meeting is in line with the “positive and conciliatory atmosphere” that characterized the recent formation of the Cabinet after months of stalemate, Yammine told Now Lebanon website.
Yammine also said that the “positivity” currently marking Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun’s relationship with Jumblatt would eventually lead to a meeting between the two leaders.
Commenting on the meeting, Aoun said Wednesday that any gathering between political leaders was positive, adding that the circumstances of Jumblatt’s meeting with Franjieh differed from the circumstances under which he would meet the PSP leader.
“I do not object to a meeting with Jumblatt when the circumstances are ripe and in accordance with an agenda that reflects on a national and popular level,” said Aoun, who counts Franjieh as one of his allies.
In remarks published by the daily As-Sharq al-Awsat, Metn MP Ibrahim Kenaan, an FPM official, said that a meeting might be held between Aoun and Jumblatt at any time, since the current circumstances were favorable, adding that such a meeting only awaited the proper arrangements.
Similarly, PSP official Rami Rayess told As-Sharq al-Awsat that the meeting between Jumblatt and Aoun “is going to definitely happen” but refrained from setting a date.
© Copyright The Daily Star 2009.
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