Lebanese crisis sees no progress

Arab League chief returns from Beirut without solution, Berri postpones presidential election session to February

Moussa: There's no dead end but just a closed door, Arab initiative's official interpretation irrevocable

Sfeir thanks Siniora for standing up to campaigns against patriarch

UNIFIL stresses cooperation with army in face of whoever tampers with south Lebanon's security

The Arab League has made progress toward solving the political crisis in Lebanon, although it has yet to achieve a breakthrough, the league's Secretary General Amr Moussa said.

''We're advancing step by step, but I cannot say at this stage whether I am optimistic or pessimistic, and prefer to keep details away from the media,'' Moussa said after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. ''My talks in Damascus were totally positive...It is important that I go to Riyadh,'' he said.

Moussa is seeking agreement on implementing an Arab plan to set up a power-sharing government which would balance the competing demands of military and political group Hezbollah and those of the anti-Syrian majority group led by Saad al-Hariri.

Hezbollah is backed by Iran and Syria, while Hariri has the support of the United States and its ally, Saudi Arabia. The rival Lebanese sides have been at loggerheads for more than a year, creating the worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The plan is based on electing Lebanese army commander General Michel Suleiman as a compromise president, a position which has remained empty since November.

Moussa said he would then favor a power-sharing coalition which would give Hariri's group more than half the ministers while not giving the Hezbollah-led group enough ministers to have veto power.

The balance would be held by ministers named by Suleiman.

But the opposition has said it wants either an equal three way division of cabinet seats -- between themselves, the majority and Suleiman -- or veto power in a new government.

The Arab states' plan also calls for the drafting of a new law for a parliamentary election due next year.

Parliament has been called for a 13th time on Monday to elect Suleiman but the vote cannot succeed without a political deal between the sides that would secure a two-thirds quorum in the chamber.

Addressing his Shiite followers at the religious Ashura ceremony in southern Beirut, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said he welcomed the Arab initiative but warned ''if the mediations and initiatives fail, the opposition will not allow itself to be left at a dead end''.

''If you are betting on the opposition's weakness, or the opposition's retreat, or the opposition relinquishing its rights and goals, then you are delusional,'' Nasrallah said, directing his comment to his political foes.

The wrangling over the Lebanese presidency reflects the regional conflict between the United States and its allies on one side and a Syria, Iran and Hezbollah alliance on the other. ''We will not leave Lebanon for the American plan or the American administration,'' Nasrallah said.

Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri announced that a parliamentary session to elect Lebanon’s president was postponed for the 13th time to February 11. Rival Lebanese leaders have agreed on army chief General Michel Suleiman as the next president. The post has been vacant since November 23 when the term of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud expired.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa left Beirut Sunday evening, wrapping up his second visit in days for talks with Lebanese politicians and leaders in a bid to defuse the presidential deadlock.

Defusing the current impasse requires more efforts and contacts, Moussa said before heading for Cairo. The next step will be the Jan 27 meeting of Arab foreign ministers, he said. Moussa still sounded optimistic a breakthrough in the long-running crisis would be achieved.

The chief of the pan-Arab body underlined his visit achieved some positive outcome.

Asked if the situation could further deteriorate, Moussa replied that if it happened it would run counter to the interests of Lebanon and the Lebanese.

He urged halt of media war between the majority and opposition and to stop inciting riots for the sake of Lebanon.

Moussa returned to Beirut Saturday coming from Damascus as part of efforts to settle the long-running crisis. During his stay in Lebanon, Moussa succeeded in holding a meeting between leader of Lebanon's Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun and leader of the parliamentary majority Saad Hariri.

The paramount aim of Moussa's visit was to talk the Lebanese into implementing the Arab blueprint to fill the presidential vacancy. The initiative, based on a three-point plan, calls for electing Army Chief Gen. Michel Suleiman as next president, forming a national unity government and adopting a new electoral law.

Earlier Sunday, a vote to elect a new head of state foundered because Lebanese politicians were at loggerheads over the shape of a future cabinet.

Moussa called on the Lebanese not to lose the hope of achieving a breakthrough for the current impasse.

He did not dangle the possibility of his back to Lebanon after the Jan 27 meeting of Arab foreign ministers.

Asked if feuds between Arab countries could widen the Lebanese gap, he said this crisis had a negative impact. He denied the Arab initiative ended in deadlock, saying the two groups (the majority and opposition) should sit together.

Moussa denied that the Arab Initiative to solve the Lebanese crisis has reached a dead end.

"Solution will be reached when the opposition and majority sit together to reach a compromise after both teams rejected their shares in the new government line-up," Moussa said in statements after meeting Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Nabih Berri.

Possible meetings grouping representatives of the opposition and majority could be held, Moussa said, referring to his meeting with leader of the Lebanese parliamentary majority Saad Hariri and former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel from the majority team and leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Michel Aoun from the opposition.

Moussa said he contacted Aoun today to arrange for another meeting between the majority and the opposition but he apologized for medical reasons.

Berri for the first time has expressed pessimism over prospects for resolving the political logjam. Berri placed the ball squarely in the Arab court by insisting that only a Saudi-Syrian reconciliation could pave the way for inter-Lebanese accord and the election of a new president and formation of a new government.

"When [Arab League Secretary General Amr] Moussa came to see me before going to Damascus and asked me if I have any message for [Syrian President] Bashar Assad, I told him just tell him to reconcile with Saudi Arabia," Berri told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview Saturday.

He added that the rift was "Syria's mistake," the result of comments made by Syrian Vice President Farouk Sharaa, which soured relations. Hopes are high that the upcoming Arab summit in March in Damascus will serve as an ideal platform for a Saudi-Syrian reconciliation.

Berri said he does not understand how the Lebanese problem can be internationalized. "With the [UN Special] Tribunal it was a matter of blood [that of slain former Premier Rafik Hariri]. No one could object or oppose it. But with the presidency, the UN Security Council cannot appoint the president," he said, adding that the United States has no interest in destabilizing Lebanon by pushing MPs in the governing coalition to elect a president with a simple majority.

"If [the international community] boycotts the opposition they will ruin the country, if they increase international pressure on Iran it won't matter because Iran is not afraid," Berri said, focusing instead on the need for Arab accord.

"Stop saying you love us," he said, addressing the Arab countries. "Let Saudi Arabia and Syria reconcile and the problem would be solved in Lebanon."

Berri also raised doubts over the convening of Monday's parliamentary session to elect a new president, which was postponed Sunday. "I doubt it will happen, I am not optimistic," he said.

Berri said that "only the 10+10+10" equal distribution of Cabinet posts between the majority, the opposition and the president in a new government would meet with the requirements of the three-point Arab plan. The plan calls for neither majority nor opposition having the power to hinder the government or monopolize power and gives the president the swing vote in Cabinet as the arbiter.

He said the ruling coalition supported a 14+10+6 formula of seats, but this would allow only majority-sponsored policy to pass and would render the president incapable of supporting any opposition-sponsored policy in Cabinet that requires a two-thirds majority vote. He said the president's six ministers and the opposition's 10 would not constitute two-thirds of Cabinet. A two-thirds vote in Cabinet would be required to pass bud-gets, declare war and peace, or a state of emergency.

Berri said the president's vote in Cabinet ought to be the deciding factor and he ought to stand as referee between both sides. He reiterated that the latest Arab initiative was a historic opportunity for the Lebanese to reach agreement.

"The fact that the Arabs came out with an initiative that affirms the Christian presidency in Lebanon and its balancing role illustrates how liberal Arab Muslim regimes really are," the speaker said.

"If I were the majority I would say to the opposition take 29 ministers and leave me the prime minister's post, as the premier is everything; he has the power to stop or pass decrees and decisions. The president's signature on decrees on the other hand does not hasten or hinder their passing, as they pass regardless, whether the president signs or not," Berri said.

Berri said that after Moussa's initial visit bearing the Arab initiative, he told Moussa to return to Lebanon with an "interpretation" of the initiative that defines the number of ministers each side will get in a new Cabinet.

"I told him to bring back the 10+10+10 or you will get bogged down in Lebanese politics," Berri said adding that had Moussa returned with a clear interpretation, the Arab initiative "could have proved Lebanon's salvation."

The speaker said that Lebanese Armed Forces commander General Michel Suleiman remains the only candidate for the presidency.

"The opposition refused the 10+10+10 formula, but I told Moussa even if [Hezbollah leader] Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and [Change and Reform Bloc leader MP] Michel Aoun refuse this formula I will ensure a quorum in Parliament to elect Suleiman," Berri added.

He said that his pushing for the 10+10+10 formula led the opposition to declare their support for it as their "spare bullet" or last resort. "In fact both sides do not want it." Berri's role as official negotiator for the opposition was taken over by Aoun, who has been named by Hezbollah as the man the ruling coalition has to deal with to broker a deal over the presidency.

"I tell Suleiman 'choose your own ministers whoever they are' ... he will have to choose them from among all sects in Lebanon including the Shiite sect," the speaker said, pointing out that Jbeil, Suleiman's home district, has over 200,000 Shiite residents, many of whom are neither Hezbollah nor Amal supporters.

Berri also lamented the dire situation the country is in, both politically and economically. "In all my years in political life I never heard of people dying from cold in Lebanon, and not in one area but across the whole country, in the South, in the Bekaa, in Akkar," Berri said, pointing to the unreasonably high cost of heating oil. Lambasting the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Berri said that no head of government had ever committed as much "adultery" against the Constitution as Siniora has.

The speaker said that the American strategic interests lie in ensuring Israel's security and the continued flow of oil, while everything else is "just details."