Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber al-Thani said Monday that talks in Qatar
between rival Lebanese political factions ended in a "dead end."
"I regret to announce that we have a reached a dead end," Sheikh
Hamad said concerning the dialogue aimed at ending the Lebanese crisis, but
added that "efforts will continue until a solution is reached."
The Qatari leader made proposals on Sunday on power-sharing in a new government
with the rivals having been expected to hammer out a compromise over a new
election law on Monday.
Agreement on these points would have paved the way for parliament to elect army
commander General Michel Suleiman as president, a post that has been vacant
since November.
The Arab League intervened last week to end Lebanon's worst domestic fighting
since the 1975-1990 civil war and pave the way for the Doha talks between the
US-backed ruling coalition and the opposition to end an 18-month-old crisis.
Earlier, Samir Geagea, Christian leader of the Lebanese Forces and a member of
the ruling majority, called Monday for an Arab peacekeeping force in Lebanon if the Doha dialogue talks fail to end the Lebanese political crisis.
"My proposal is an Arab peacekeeping force, and I have discussed it with
all the mediators and with the Arab ministerial Committee if the dialogue
fails," Geagea said. "There is a tense calm in Lebanon today, and if we want a real stability then this is a real solution."
Geagea criticized the response by the Hezbollah-led opposition to the Qatar proposals and said: "The dialogue received a big blow because of the statement
released by the opposition.
"We don't know if we will be able to repair the damage caused by their
statement," he said.
"Lebanon's security is an essential issue for us" following the
sectarian fighting that broke out in and around Beirut on May 7, Geagea said.
Lebanese rival leaders left Lebanon last Friday for talks in Doha in a bid to
end the political crisis in the country and which has turned violent, after
street clashes last week between the majority and the opposition led to the
killing of 82 people.
Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition on Monday rejected a proposal at
Arab-mediated talks with pro-government rivals aimed at breaking a political
deadlock which took the country to the brink of civil war.
The differences among the Lebanese rivals is threatening to derail the crisis
talks on their fourth of day, and came after host Qatar proposed an immediate
presidential vote and formation of a unity government while postponing
discussion of a disputed electoral law.
In a statement issued after a meeting of its leaders, the Syria- and
Iran-backed opposition refused to postpone discussion of the electoral law and
said it was committed to the Arab-brokered agreement reached last week in Beirut, which led to the Doha talks.
"The Lebanese opposition stresses its adherence to... (firstly) agreeing
on the representation (of parties) in the formation of a national unity
government, and (secondly) to agree on a new electoral law," the statement
said.
"The agreement would be crowned by electing General Michel Suleiman as
president as agreed," it added.
The rival factions have agreed on the election of the army chief as president
to succeed pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud, whose term ended in November
2007.
But differences over the government's makeup and the electoral law have blocked
his election, worsening a crisis that began in November 2006 when six
pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet of the Western- backed Prime Minister
Fouad Seniora, dpa reported.
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