Lebanese Prime Minister is due to arrive home Sunday from a “holiday” in Sardinia, seen by the press as a protest against an army crackdown on anti-Syrians supported by President Emile Lahoud and Damascus.
But according to the Daily Star on Saturday, Syrian intervention and looming economic collapse have combined to persuade the country's feuding leaders to abandon their turf wars and make a new attempt at cooperation, beginning with the return of Hariri.
"There's no turning back. There's resolve to overcome all that has happened and cooperate for a better future," Lahoud was quoted as declaring Friday.
"A unified national stand and an atmosphere of reconciliation are capable of producing a cohesive working team" to cure the crises of recent weeks, he said.
Lahoud's remarks capped a week of reconciliation meetings with key opposition figures, starting with Tuesday's trip to Diman for talks with Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, the Maronite patriarch, and a lunch in Baabda with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt on Friday, said the paper.
These gestures were unlikely to eliminate the deep distrust that has marred Lahoud's relations with the opposition since his first day in office, but they have ushered in a thaw that could be exploited to separate politics from the economy, said the Star.
Building on the "positive atmosphere" that emerged from Friday's meeting in Baabda, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, a close ally of Jumblatt, met Interior Minister Elias Murr.
Murr, Lahoud's son-in-law, declined comment after the meeting at his office in Sanayeh. Aridi would not give details of the discussions to the paper, but commented on developments in the country in general.
"The interests of citizens have to be pursued. It is not acceptable that these are undermined because of a political dispute or differences in opinion," said Aridi, in a statement that bore remarkable similarity to Lahoud's own comments.
AFP reported on Sunday that a member of Hariri's parliamentary group described the recent crackdown on Christian anti-Syrian activists as "unconstitutional," citing press reports.
"The Constitution was violated over the past few weeks because [deciding about the crackdown] was up to the cabinet and no other party to decide,” MP Walid Ido said.
Between August 5 and 8, some 200 Christian activists opposed to the Syrian presence in Lebanon were rounded up by the military intelligence services, with the approval of Lahoud, and behind the backs of Hariri and his ministerial team.
Ido also warned without naming "those who intend to push Hariri towards resignation,” adding that the prime minister would not quit.
Before he left for Sardinia ten days ago, the premier vigorously criticized the army round-up.
During its latest session, held in the absence of six ministers close to the president, the cabinet had unanimously demanded those responsible for the "unjustified abuses" during the crackdown "be made answerable.”
Lawyers have said that some of the Christian activists, who were rounded up on charges on plotting with the Israelis against Syria and Lebanon, were arrested in a brutal fashion – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
