Berri to Hariri: Talk to Opposition Negotiator Aoun

Source: Al-Manar TV, 30-4-2008
Like a patient who refuses medication just to draw attention, the ruling bloc in Lebanon is blocking every move to settle an exacerbating crisis, blessed by Washington.
Speaker Nabih Berri has called for dialogue between feuding parties, but the ruling bloc and Saudi Arabia behind it, has turned down the call. US President George W. Bush also contacted the head of the unconstitutional government Fouad Saniora to renew support to him as he (Saniora) is regarded as a his strategic ally in the region.
With the support of Saudi Arabia and the US to the ruling bloc or without it, the problem in Lebanon persists. The opposition has been calling to adopt the Arab initiative as an integral package but the US-Saudi backed camp is still refusing. The initiative stipulates that Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman be elected as president, a new national unity government be formed and a new electoral law be endorsed. The ruling bloc wants a president elected and later on discusses the other two articles.
The dimensions of this mayhem extend to the US. Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have been conveying messages to the opposition in Lebanon and other regional players that "the absence of a president in Lebanon was not a problem and that Washington's top priority was to keep Premier Fouad Saniora as head of the executive body." For the opposition, this is impossible as their main struggle has been centered on a new national unity government that would observe fair representation. The head of the Future Movement MP Saad Hariri went out of his meeting with Saniora at the Grand Serail to say that "It's the duty of all MPs to go down to Parliament on May 13 and elect consensus candidate Gen. (Michel) Suleiman."
Hariri said he was still awaiting response from Berri to his request for a joint meeting to discuss dialogue prospects and guarantees for holding presidential elections on May 13. "I hope we will meet and talk. I am the head of the Future bloc. If Berri does not want to see me, he should tell me."
The Speaker Nabih Berri has telephoned the head of the Change and Reform Parliamentary bloc Gen. Michel Aoun to inform him that he remains the opposition's negotiator in any bilateral talks with the ruling bloc. "But if they want dialogue that includes all parties, then they are welcome at the dialogue table in parliament," Berri was quoted by Assafir daily as telling Aoun.
According to sources close to the Speaker, Berri does not mind meeting Hariri, being the head of the Future Parliamentary bloc, at any time to deliberate and discuss national issues. "But if Hariri wants this meeting to take the form of bilateral dialogue, he should go to Rabiyeh and meet General Aoun," the source told Al-Akhbar daily.
The ruling bloc accuses Berri of closing the doors of parliament to prevent the election of a new President. They also accuse Syria and Iran of hindering efforts to hold presidential elections in Lebanon. But unlike Washington who said that the absence of a president in Lebanon was not a problem, both Tehran and Damascus are calling the feuding parties in Lebanon to get together, without foreign interference, and agree on steps to save their country.