Source: Nowlebanon.com, 14-9-2008
Former Prime Minister Omar Karami said he feared the deterioration of the security situation in Tripoli if the army did not impose its authority and restrain all unofficial armed forces without distinction.
In a statement released on Sunday, Karami said that reconciliation in Tripoli needed to be strengthened. He also stated that he would prefer the national dialogue roundtable to be postponed until after the 2009 parliamentary elections. He said that two of the dialogue participants, Kataeb Leader Amin Gemayel and Economy and Trade Minister Mohammad Safadi, did not represent parliamentary blocs.
"The Egyptian leadership talked to me frankly about Sunni unity in Lebanon, and I felt that there was a conviction that this could not occur only under the leadership of MP Saad Hariri [leader of the Future Movement]," Karami said. He added that he hoped that Cairo would achieve an agreement in Lebanon, after Saudi Arabia's failure to play the role of a mediator, instead deciding to become a player in domestic affairs.
Karami added that reconciliation in Tripoli would have been impossible without Syria. He said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had told him that the Syrian army would not reenter Lebanon, and that Syria had an interest Lebanon's stability as any domestic conflict may affect it.
Karami also said that Iran does not fear any war that may be launched against it. He added that he had heard from Iranian leaders that they rejected Sunni-Shia conflict, and considered "Israel" the only enemy.