WORLD> Middle East
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WORLD> Middle East
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Rival Lebanese sign deal to end crisis
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-21 17:48 DOHA - Rival Lebanese leaders signed a deal on Wednesday to end 18 months of political conflict that had pushed their country to the brink of a new civil war.
The deal, concluded after six days of Arab-mediated talks in Qatar, paved the way for parliament to elect army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, filling a post vacant since November because of the political deadlock. Lebanese Parliament speaker Nabih Berri said Suleiman would be elected president this week. The deal between the ruling coalition and the opposition resolved a dispute over a parliamentary election law and met the opposition's long-standing demand for veto power in the 30-member cabinet. "The parties agreed that the speaker of parliament will call within 24 hours for the election of General Michel Suleiman as president of the republic," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani said, reading from the agreement at the signing ceremony in Doha. Hezbollah increased pressure on the ruling alliance this month by routing its followers in a military campaign. The Qatari-led negotiations in Doha built on mediation that ended violence in which 81 people were killed. It was Lebanon's worst civil conflict since the 1975-1990 war and exacerbated tensions between Shi'ites loyal to Hezbollah and Druze and Sunni followers of the ruling coalition. "We have no future other than through internal unity," Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said in a speech at the signing ceremony. Increasing the pressure The ruling coalition had long refused to meet the opposition's demand for cabinet veto power, saying the opposition was trying to restore Syrian control of Lebanon. Syria was forced to withdraw troops from Lebanon in 2005 after former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was assassinated. |
