UN envoy to meet Lebanese
opposition amid political deadlock
by Nayla RazzoukBEIRUT,
April 6 (AFP) - UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen was due to meet with Lebanese opposition
figures on Wednesday after verifying the closure of Syrian bases in the country, as talks
opened on crucial polls due by the end of May.
Roed-Larsen's meeting with prominent Christian opposition figures comes a day after the UN
envoy verified with his "own eyes" the evacuation of Syria's dreaded military
intelligence headquarters in Beirut.
The UN envoy, who has already met pro-Syrian Lebanese leaders, was expected to end his
visit on Thursday ahead of the arrival of a formal UN mission tasked with ensuring
Damascus complies with UN Security Council Resolution 1559.
The resolution, passed in September, calls for an end to Syria's 29-year military and
political presence in Lebanon, with Damascus having promised to pull out all its soldiers
and intelligence services by the end of April.
The Lebanese authorities on Monday approved UN plans to set up an international mission to
verify that Damascus has ended its military presence which dates back to the early stages
of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
According to an Arab diplomatic source, the mission will be made up of some 70 inspectors.
In his meetings with pro-Syrian authorities in Beirut, Roed-Larsen backed opposition
demands that parliamentary elections due by the end of May be held "in a timely
fashion" to restore security in Lebanon.
In a visit that apparently surprised his host, prominent opposition leader MP Walid
Jumblatt arrived late Tuesday at the residence of parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a leader
of the pro-Syrian camp.
It was the first meeting between the two men since the February 14 assassination of
ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, blamed by the opposition on the Lebanese regime and their
political masters in Damascus.
Berri said he hoped the visit would "be the beginning of resolving what has
happened" since Hariri's killing, which led to mass protests that brought down the
government and left the country politically paralysed.
Political wrangling has continued ever since over the formation of a new government amid a
wave of bomb blasts in Christian opposition areas that has left the country jittery.
The opposition has accused the pro-Syrian camp of foot-dragging ever since Hariri's death
in order to retain its control of parliament and not face a voter backlash over the
murder.
A new government must be formed to draw up an electoral law in order for the legislative
polls to take place.
Berri said on Friday that a new government would draw up an electoral law based on larger
constituencies, changes favouring the pro-Syrian camp, while the opposition wants smaller
constituencies that would be more representative
for minorities.
A new government should be set up without delay, says the opposition, regardless of its
composition, to organise the polls and to coordinate with a planned UN commission of
inquiry into Hariri's murder.
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Omar Karameh, who has so far failed to bring the
opposition into a national unity cabinet, was quoted in the Beirut press as saying he
could announce a new government by Saturday. |
