Suleiman, al-Rahi Agree Dialogue Only Solution to Country’s Problems
President Michel Suleiman and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi agreed on Thursday that the National Dialogue that is scheduled to be held at Baabda Palace next month is the only solution to the country’s lingering problems.
An Nahar daily reported Friday that Suleiman and al-Rahi discussed at the presidential palace the importance of holding all-party talks away from tension.
Suleiman said the National Dialogue will be held on June 11 after security incidents in Beirut and the northern city of Tripoli left several people dead. Although all parties represented in the government announced they would attend the session, the March 14 opposition coalition has yet to announce its participation in the dialogue which it deems useless under the current cabinet.
The alliance has called for the formation of a neutral salvation government.
According to An Nahar, the head of state and al-Rahi also discussed Suleiman’s tour to the Gulf to “stress the brotherly and friendly ties between the leaders and peoples of these countries and the Lebanese from all sects.”
The president announced that he would visit several Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, after four GCC states urged their citizens to avoid travel to Lebanon over the security situation.
Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain issued the travel warnings after the deadly clashes that erupted in early May between pro- and anti-Syrian groups in Beirut and Tripoli.
Al-Rahi informed Suleiman about his latest tour to Mexico, Canada, the U.S. and the two men also discussed the incidents on the Lebanese-Syrian border and ways to avert a further deterioration in the security situation, An Nahar said.
The latest incident on the border was the Syrian army’s kidnapping of Yehya Mohammed Fleiti in the eastern town of Arsal on Thursday.
Earlier in the week, a Lebanese man who was hunting rabbits near Arsal was killed in Syrian cross-border fire.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://mobile.naharnet.com/stories/en/42042 |