27 December 2011

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman has called for the collection of arms from cities, voicing hope about resuming national dialogue which has been stalled since last year because of sharp differences between rival factions over what topics to discuss.

“Dialogue will resume on the basis of the proposal I made previously to study a national strategy for defense and discuss the issue of arms, firstly with regard to implementing the previous decisions on the Palestinian arms, and secondly, the resistance’s arms in order to benefit from it positively to defend Lebanon and to know how, where and when to use it,” Sleiman told reporters after holding a closed-door meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai at the Maronite patriarchate in Bkirki, north of Beirut, Sunday to congratulate him on Christmas Day.

Sleiman said another topic to be discussed by the National Dialogue Committee, which comprises top leaders from the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance and the opposition March 14 coalition, is the proliferation of arms in Lebanese cities.

“The arms present in cities should be collected. This issue has become a collective Lebanese demand,” he said.

MPs from the parliamentary Future bloc of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri met in Parliament last week to reiterate their demand for an arms-free Beirut. Their call came following a renewal of street clashes between rival gunmen in residential areas in west Beirut that wounded some people and terrorized residents.

Asked what was holding up the revival of dialogue, Sleiman said: “The proposal I made did not gain acceptance from the two sides due to bets [on the ‘Arab Spring’].”

Sleiman is seeking to resume national dialogue between rival political leaders in an attempt to protect Lebanon from the reverberations of the current popular upheavals in the Arab world.

Last week, Sleiman chaired a meeting of a preparatory body of the National Dialogue Committee at Baabda Palace that assessed the outcome of the committee’s previous meetings and the current developments that require the relaunching of the committee’s sessions, according to a statement released by the president’s office. The meeting also examined what other topics the committee could discuss, in addition to a national defense strategy for Lebanon.

The committee held its last session of dialogue in November last year which was boycotted by most March 8 leaders amid divisions over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The dispute eventually led to the collapse of Hariri’s Cabinet on Jan. 12.

The STL is investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Sleiman has recently renewed his call for national dialogue, warning that Lebanon was facing difficulties and challenges as a result of the popular uprisings in the Arab world. He stressed that dialogue was the only way for the country’s salvation.

Both sides have apparently set conditions for attending the proposed dialogue. While Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati have generally endorsed Sleiman’s call for national dialogue, Hezbollah has declared that its arms will not be the topic of any dialogue and is ready to discuss a national defense strategy to protect Lebanon against a possible Israeli attack.

March 14 leaders, including Hariri, have voiced skepticism about the proposed dialogue, insisting that Hezbollah’s arms should be the only topic for discussion, or else they will not attend.

Asked to comment on the agreement reached recently by top Maronite leaders on an election law during their meeting chaired by Rai in Bkirki, Sleiman said: “The Maronite meeting has laid the foundations to discuss an election law. In my view, we must find an election law that addresses all concerns and remains under the ceiling of the Taif [Accord], that is, to ensure equality between the citizens in the right to elect.”

Copyright The Daily Star 2011.