Mustaqbal, AMAL to Hold Direct Talks after Feb. 14
Speaker Nabih Berri has not yet launched efforts to end the political deadlock in Lebanon, however the recent meeting between his envoy Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi may be the beginning of such efforts, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper on Sunday.
It also pointed out to the rapprochement between the Mustaqbal Movement and Berri’s AMAL party, adding that direct talks between the two sides will be held after the February 14 ceremony marking the anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
It highlighted the head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora’s efforts to this end in that he had held talks with Berri last week in the presence of Prime Minister Najib Miqati.
He had also met with the Vice President of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Abdul Amir Qabalan and Shiite cleric Sayyed Ali Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah.
Meanwhile, the government tensions have not been eased given the ongoing dispute between Miqati and the Free Patriotic Movement, said al-Anbaa.
Independent sources noted that two factors are currently controlling this deadlock.
The first is the prime minister’s upcoming visit to France on February 10 and the second is direct American-Russian talks over the crisis in Syria.
This latter factor emerged amid Berri’s repeated calls for Lebanon to keep a distance from the developments in the region, said the newspaper.
Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian government's murderous crackdown on protests for the second time.
Western governments reacted with fury to the new block on U.N. action over President Bashar Assad's 10 month-old assault on demonstrators which followed weeks of acrimonious negotiations over the text.
Russia and China "remain steadfast in their willingness to sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant," U.S. ambassador Susan Rice told the 15-nation council. U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said the failure to agree a resolution "undermines" the United Nations.
Thirteen countries voted for the resolution drafted by Arab and European nations which would have given strong backing to an Arab League plan to end the crisis.
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