BEIRUT: Reform and Change  bloc leader MP Michel Aoun said Monday that he might walk out of the national dialogue because he could no longer deal with "corrupt people." At a news conference following his bloc’s weekly meeting, Aoun said that a conspiracy was being waged against the Lebanese "to buy their votes." Aoun added that the March 14 Forces’ suggestion to have mayors resign six months rather than 24 months prior to running for parliamentary elections constituted "a serious breach of the Constitution."  "A mayor who resigns six months before running for elections can still make use of municipal funds to sponsor their electoral campaigns," Aoun said.  Aoun also reacted to Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea’s speech on Sunday in which the LF leader apologized for "mistakes" committed by his militia during the 1975-1990 Civil War. Aoun said Geagea should have apologized "to [former Prime Minister Omar] Karami, the Chamoun family and [Marada Movement leader Sleiman] Franjieh."  Aoun added that Geagea’s speech "influenced only those who are of marginal importance in the Christian community."

Franjieh on Monday accepted the apology made by Geagea, but challenged the LF boss to accept reconciliation.  "The apology made by Geagea is accepted although it was not addressed to us," Franjieh told a news conference, adding that he would deal "positively" with it.  Geagea is accused of playing a leading role in the assassination of Franjieh’s father Toni Franjieh and dozens of other people in 1978.  Addressing Geagea, Franjieh said: "Election results will show who enjoys wider popularity."  Franjieh also criticized Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, calling on him to "refrain from dealing with Christians in a biased manner."  Responding to Franjieh, LF MP Farid Habib said even after Geagea had declared his openness to other parties and apologized for abuses, Franjieh "is still attacking him and trying to distort the LF’s image." Habib told the reporters on Monday that he was not surprised by Franjieh’s verbal assaults "because anyone who dares to attack the Maronite patriarch will not hesitate to attack any political party.

Meanwhile, Karami said that the LF boss’ speech was important because it "proved that Geagea is a killer, criminal and liar, because he had previously announced that the Syrian regime was responsible for all the crimes." Geagea is also accused of assassinating Karami’s brother, then-Prime Minister Rashid Karami, in 1987. After meeting British Ambassador Frances Mary Guy on Monday, Karami said Geagea was trying to sway public opinion for electoral purposes. He said Geagea was not interested in reconciliation and wanted only to impose himself by force

By Hussein Abdallah, BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea apologized on Sunday for "mistakes" committed by members of his party during the 1975-1990 Civil War. "I fully apologize for all the mistakes that we committed when we were carrying out our national duties during past Civil War years," he said. "I ask God to forgive and so I ask the people whom we hurt in the past," he added.  Speaking before tens of thousands of his supporters who gathered in Jounieh, north of Beirut, for a memorial ceremony for LF members killed during political violence in Jounieh, Geagea accused his political rivals of "exploiting past mistakes" that were committed by the LF.  "I want to tell those who are exploiting our past mistakes to stop doing so because only God can judge us," he said.  Geagea said that Christian unity was not possible in light of sharp differences over political principles and values among Christian leaders, hinting at his main rival, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.  "I know that every one of you is longing to see Christian unity and reconciliation," he said. "This is also our aim, but the question: Over what values shall we unite?"  "Shall we unite over Hizbullah’s possession of arms at the expense of the Lebanese state?"  "Shall we unite over investigating the Lebanese Army command for sending the helicopter in which First Lieutenant Samer Hanna was shot in the Sejod Hills?"  "Shall we unite over changing Lebanon into the only battlefield in the Arab-Israeli conflict while many others are negotiating with Israel?" Geagea asked as the crowd chanted anti-Aoun, anti-Hizbullah, and anti-Syrian slogans.

However, the LF chief added that Christian unity was the key to saving Lebanon, urging all Christians to take the right decision in next year’s parliamentary elections. "I call on the Christians who are against the Lebanese Forces or against me personally, to put Lebanon’s interests ahead of personal interests," he said. "We can only save Lebanon when the people of Lebanon as a whole and Christians in particular unite over the historic principles of Christians in Lebanon."  He accused Christian members of the March 8 alliance of dropping the slogan, "my nation is always right" and replacing it with a slogan that says "Syria and Hizbullah are always right." Geagea said that both the Doha Accord and the ministerial statement of the new government stipulate that the state was the sole authority on defense issues. "We cannot accept that Hizbullah wants to maintain its arms until the liberation of Palestine and the resolution of the Middle East conflict," he said.  Geagea also argued against Hizbullah’s claim that it should maintain its arms until the state acquires the necessary capabilities to defend Lebanon.  The event was attended by several senior officials, including Finance Minister Mohammad Shatah, representing  Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and former President Amin Gemayel.  President Michel Sleiman, who left for New York Sunday, contacted Geagea to offer his condolences. Parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri also congratulated him for the "success" of the memorial ceremony.

BEIRUT (AFP) Lebanon’s rival factions launched national reconciliation talks on Tuesday to resolve lingering disputes after a crisis that brought the nation to the brink of civil war, with the thorny issue of Hezbollah’s weapons topping the agenda. The talks bring together 14 political figures from the country’s pro- and anti-Syrian camps who agreed to try to mend fences following a Qatari-brokered deal in May that put an end to a damaging 18-month political crisis.  "Agreeing to dialogue in and of itself means that all subjects are open to discussion," President Michel Sleiman said as he opened the talks. "The only thing banned here is failure or a reaching a dead-end."

The main focus of the dialogue will be on forging a defence strategy for Lebanon but there is widespread scepticism that an agreement can be reached given deep-seated divisions over Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal. The Shiite Muslim group, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States, has refused to disarm arguing that its weapons and guerrilla army are essential to defend the country against neighbouring Israel.  However members of the Western-backed majority in parliament argue that Hezbollah’s weapons undermine the authority of the state which should be the sole decision-maker on matters of defence. 

"All Lebanese are hoping that the dialogue will be successful but a real solution will only be found when Hezbollah stops using its weapons to serve regional interests and stops imposing its hegemony by force on the local scene," said an editorial in An-Nahar newspaper, which is close to the anti-Syrian ruling coalition in parliament.  Newspapers close to the rival camp backed by Syria and Iran said those taking part in the dialogue face an arduous task given their differences.  "The various political camps believe the discussions on the national defence strategy will get bogged down into futile debate and no one will see any results for a long time," the As-Safir newspaper said.  The independent Al-Anwar said the closed-door talks were taking place "in a minefield called Lebanon, with the mines produced locally and abroad."  The dialogue follows on from a 2006 initiative in which the same 14 factions held several round-table meetings in a bid to forge political unity.  But there have been heightened security concerns in the country following the killing last week of a pro-Syrian politician in a car bombing and a number of violent incidents.  Six makeshift bombs exploded early on Monday in a mixed Sunni-Shiite area of west Beirut and two similar bombs were defused by the Lebanese army near a church north of the capital.  Tuesday’s talks are to set the agenda and timetable for talks, with the next session set to take place after Sleiman returns from a visit to the United States later this month.