| Lebanon dialogue
failed...to fail By Farid
Chedid
Lebanonwire
 Convening amid an atmosphere of pessimism that has surfaced in the wake of
the war of words recently exchanged between participants, Lebanon's National Dialogue
failed in its sixth round of talks Friday to agree on anything except to remain in
session, tactfully moving the heavy burden of deciding on President Lahoud's fate to May
16, while resloving not to retract from any decision taken in previous rounds.
Bending to the wind rather than getting swept by it,
participants managed once again to salvage dialogue and with it the promise their meetings
hold for the Lebanese, even if that promise could continue hanging in the air until the
very last day of Lahoud's tenure.
In their five rounds of talks since March 2, Lebanon
leaders agreed to establish an international court to judge those responsible for Hariri's
killing, dismantle Palestinian military bases outside camps, and work on normalizing
relations with Syria and defining borders between the two countries .
Still pending, however, is the thorny issue of disarming
Hezbollah's and Lahoud's fate, which is one of the most contentious issues facing the
participants.
So what exactly went on during Friday's session?
 After an introduction by Speaker Berri, Prime
Minister Siniora spoke about what he termed as 'the very serious economic repercussions'
to the country's political crisis, warning that, "Lebanon will be heading to disaster
if dialogue fails," daily As-Safir reported.
On the issue of Shebaa farms, and whether the participants
have agreed on 'specifying' or 'delineating' the borders, a discussion between Hezbollah
Leader Hassan Nasrallah and Progressive Party Leader MP Walid Jumblat necessitated
reviewing the minutes of previous sessions, where the text revealed that it was in fact
agreed on 'specifying' and not 'delineating' the borders, as was recently asserted by
Nasrallah.
The next issue was that of the presidency.
Opening the subject, Speaker Berri asked Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to inform the
participants of the viewpoint taken by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on the matter.
Responding, Geagea said that he proposed to Sfeir the names of four nominees, namely
Michel Aoun, Butros Harb, Nassib Lahoud and Nayla Moawad.
 Immediately after that, the door
opened in full swing to the Bazar of names, where the March 14 Coalition was quick to
propose 7 more nominees, namely Robert Ghanem, Chibli Mallat, Jean Obeid, Michel
Edde, Riad Salameh, Charles Rizk and Ghattas Khouri.
Following suit, MP Michel Murr proposed the name of Genral Michel Aoun.
Responding, a number of participants called for agreeing on the mechanism before names.
But Speaker Berri opted for the idea of agreeing on four or five names, which a delegation
will deliver to President Lahoud who in turn will select one of them.
Others responded by suggesting that Lahoud would propose
four names and the Dialogue Roundtable will select one of them.
Refusing both formulas, Jumblat and Geagae said Lahoud is illegitimate, and therefore has
no right to choose. Instead, they said, Lahoud should resign, leaving the matter to the
participants to decide on an alternative. And when Berri insisted on reducing the list of
nominees, Geagae said it would be enough to nominate Butros Harb and Nassib Lahoud from
the March 14 Coalition, dropping the name of Nayla Moawad.
 In turn, MP Elie Skaff suggested
that "since the issue is sectarian, let the March 14 Coalition name the prime
minister, leaving it to other forces to name the president," daily As-Safir quoted
him as saying.
Reacting, Jumblat reminded of the necessity of setting a 'road map' for next president, a
matter that was promptly agreed upon by the Minister of Public Works MP Mohammad Safadi.
For his part, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah proposed another solution where
participants would agree on one name, and then "I will go to the Presidential Palace
and tell the president to step down and leave," daily as-Safir reported him as saying
(with a smile).
Then, following a general discussion on mechanisms, Speaker Berri suggested postponing
discussions for one week. But Prime Minister Siniora said he has other engagements at that
time, and, to the bewilderment of all, General Aoun said he would also be out visiting
Syria, adding "yes, the Future Movement media has decided to send me on a visit
to Syria at that time," daily As-Safir quoted him as saying.
In turn, Majority leader MP Saad Hariri assented that "we should not lose hope",
adding that "nothing will happen if we are a little patient," As-Safir quoted
him as saying.
The participants then agreed on May 16 as the date of the upcoming session, with the
possibility of moving the meeting place to the Speaker's Residence at Ain El Tini to avoid
adversely effecting the tourist season. |
