BEIRUT (AFP) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Beirut on Thursday and immediately called for dialogue and compromise to end Lebanon’s most serious crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990.

The UN chief, currently on his first official tour of the Middle East, will hold talks on Friday with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, officials said.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

RIYADH/BEIRUT: Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Wednesday denied that the Arab summit would resolve Lebanon’s political crisis, but said that efforts by Saudi Arabia to push the Lebanese toward a compromise would continue. President Emile Lahoud, who is heading one Lebanese delegation to the summit while Siniora heads another, said on Wednesday that the summit should push for "unity among the Lebanese."

Lahoud was seated in the chair for the official representative of Lebanon on Wednesday, while Siniora was placed in an area allocated for senior guests.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

BEIRUT: President Emile Lahoud on Monday announced the roster of the "official" delegation he will lead to the Arab League summit in Riyadh this week, as Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said there was "a chance" of breaking Lebanon’s political deadlock and urged rival groups to talk.

Lahoud will be accompanied in Riyadh by resigned Foreign Affairs Minister Fawzi Salloukh and resigned Environment Minister Yaacoub Sarraf.

المركزية – رأى النائب فريد الخازن اننا امام فرصة حقيقية للخروج من الازمة على قاعدة التسوية وعنوانها لا غالب ولا مغلوب. وطالب بقانون انتخابي لا يستهدف اي طرف سياسي او اي طائفة في لبنان مؤيدا الدوائر الوسطى او الصغرى. الاوضاع العامة في البلاد عرضها البطريرك الماروني الكاردينال مار نصر الله بطرس صفير مع زواره في الصرح […]

Friday, March 23, 2007

BKIRKI: Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea on Thursday bemoaned the fact that a nearly four-month-old political crisis was "still present, despite the efforts we are making" to resolve it. Speaking after a meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir at Bkirki, Geagea said that "no solutions have been reached" during numerous meetings between Speaker Nabih Berri and parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri over the past two weeks

Friday, March 23, 2007

BEIRUT: Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said on Thursday that his country was passing through a "dangerous time," for which he blamed the opposition. In a televised address on Thursday from the Grand Serail, Siniora spoke at length about his proposed reform plans for the public sector, but devoted only a few words to the ongoing political crisis and mounting tensions in Beirut that he has repeatedly blamed on his political rivals.

Israeli deputy prime minister Shimon Peres told the commission investigating last summer’s war in Lebanon that he opposed starting the conflict, according to witness statements made public on Thursday.

"If it had been up to me, I would not have gone to war. If it had been up to me, I would not have made a list of objectives for this war… We were attacked and we had to defend ourselves. That’s all," Peres told the inquiry.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Syrian President Bashar Assad reiterated Tuesday that if any Syrian was found implicated in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, he will be tried by a Syrian court and not an international court. "Anybody who has a hand in this case would be considered a traitor by the Syrian law," Assad said in an interview with France 2 television.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

BEIRUT: The dialogue between Speaker Nabih Berri and parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri was to resume late Wednesday, despite speculation that the talks had reached a dead end, according to local media reports. A day after a gathering of pro-government MPs outside Parliament to protest against a decision by Berri not to convene the legislature, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt cancelled a news conference to avoid any risk of scuttling the fragile dialogue between Berri and Hariri.