News Lebanon…
Posted by tearsforlebanon on May 24, 2008
expected to take place tomorrow Sunday. Speaker Berri is trying to make
the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman a festive event and
has invited several Arab & European officials to
attend the election and swearing in ceremony including the Foreign
Minsters of the two countries that strongly back the Hezbollah-led
opposition , Iran and Syria .
There were conflicting reports that Berri was not going to invite
Lebanese Prime Minister Foad Siniora and his cabinet minister . These
reports created an outrage, locally, within the Arab world and the
International community, specially since Siniora is very well respected
as a statesman and is credited for holding the country together during
the term of his premiership , despite the violence and the war.
Saturday
15:50 Lebanese Forces Leader Dr Samir Geagea said during a press
conference: “The Parliamentary electoral law is an important step for
us, it is not ideal, but it is better than the Ghazi Kanaan [2000] law
and the electoral division of Beirut was a victory for us and not the
opposition . The Doha agreement is not ideal but it is the best deal at
this stage and this is the first Arab document in the past 15 years
that did not mention the word resistance . Giving the opposition the
blocking one third in the cabinet no longer has the same effect as in
the past and this is why we offered it. We would back Gen. Suleiman
during his term but we expressed our reservations towards the election
process itself.”
15: 30 Geagea : “We were not clinging to the US in the past, so it
cannot be said that the US has abandoned us. It is funny the way some
are trying to compare the relationship between us and the United States
to the relationship between a mother and her baby.” On the new premier
he said “March 14 are still discussing whom to nominate for the
premiership”
15:09 The Lebanese army found in the abou Samra district in Tripoli
five old and unexploded “RPG” shells . The army initiated an
investigation of the subject matter
15:00 arrival Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud el Mashhadani via the
Masnaa border crossing with Syria in order to attend the presidential
election parliament sessions tomorrow
14:45 Berri calls and invites Siniora and the whole cabinet for dinner at the Bieh in honor of the Emir of Qatar
14:27 Siniora is holding this evening a dinner party in honor of Qatar Prime Minister
14:01 Alain Aoun to Tele Liban: The Change and Reform bloc will be
represented in the government by five ministers. We will discuss the
distribution of ministries by parliamentary bloc with the next prime
minister. If the distribution is done in a fair way, I think an
agreement is possible.
14:00 Exams scheduled for Monday May 26 at all Lebanese University
faculties have been postponed to an unspecified date, because of the
presidential elections and the declaration of Monday as a holiday
13:10 Youssef, Arab League : We hope that the implementation of the
Doha agreement will proceed in good order and in good faith and the
rival factions will start a new page in their relationship
12:56: Iran’s Foreign Minister will arrive at half past twelve noon
tomorrow, Sunday , the Foreign Minister of France at one o’clock , the
Foreign Minister of Kuwait and the Kuwaiti Speaker of the Parliament at
2 pm and between 3 and 3:30pm the foreign ministers of Spain, Turkey
and Italy will arrive to attend the presidential election and the
swearing in ceremony that follows
12:50 Today at six o’clock this evening the following Minister of
Foreign Affairs will arrive : Bahrain, Jordan and the Sultanate of
Oman. At 7 pm Prime Minister of Qatar and Chairman of the Arab
Parliament. At 8 PM Arab League chief Amr Moussa and Djibouti
ambassador who is based in Egypt. At 10 PM European Union foreign
policy chief Javier Solana and European Parliament vice-speaker
12:34 Mustafa Othman Ismail, advisor to the Sudanese President Omar
al-Bashir, will arrive in Beirut at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday to represent
Bashir at the election of Army Commander General Michel Sleiman as
president.
11:41 MP Hagop Pakradounian tells New TV: We insist of being represented in the government by two ministers.
11:38 MP Hagop Pakradounian tells New TV: The constitutional amendment
over the presidential elections cannot pass through the present
government. The election of General Sleiman will be held without any
amendment.
11:32 MP Khazen: The matter of the Resistance is different than the one
raise at Doha over the use of weapons against the inside. The weapons
of the Resistance cannot be solved but through dialogue and Hezbollah
was the first to raise this issue. This requires a very long process.
11:29 MP Farid Khazen to the NBN Television: The Doha Agreement is a
political agreement and not a truce. I don’t think there will be any
security-related events in the country.
11:25 MP Hobeich: The premiership is restricted either to MP Saad
Hariri or Premier Fouad Siniora. The Future bloc and March 14 are
consulting over this matter. The opposition forces does not have any
objection in this regard.
11:24 MP Hobeich: The constitutional council looks into the
presidential elections. Challenging the constitutionality of the
presidential elections requires a petition signed by two-third of the
MPs. But it seems that this will not happen since very few are
objecting to the way the presidential elections are being held.
11:23 MP Hadi Hobeich of the Future bloc to the LBC: I support the
amendment of the constitution, though everyone is calling for
overlooking this matter
11:22 The presidency of the parliament has been officially notified
that Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faycal will attend the presidential
session on Sunday.
8:15am Jumblatt to As Safir: Why weren’t the five permanent members
of the U.N. Security Council invited to Sunday’s presidential session?
6:35am Al Liwa daily: Hezbollah tends toward indirect participation in Sunday’s session.
6:30am Al Akhbar daily: Letters have been exchanged between
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and MP Saad Hariri concerning
the possibility of a reunion between the two leaders.
6:25am An Nahar: Electoral Law will not be amended during Sunday’s session.
6:20am Lebanese sources to As Safir daily: The process of cabinet formation will not take a long time.
6:15am Diplomatic sources to An Nahar: Saudi Arabia’s foreign
minister is widely expected to attend Sunday’s presidential election
session.
6:10am An Nahar daily: Siniora will host a dinner banquet in the
evening for all cabinet ministers, including the six opposition
ministers who resigned in November 2006.
6:00am Al Mustaqbal daily: MP Saad Hariri returned to Beirut early Saturday.
00:45: Parliament majority leader Saad Hariri arrives in Beirut
Friday
23:30 : Fatfat : the Prime Minister and members of the Lebanese cabinet will be attending the presidential election session
22:35: Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak called Army chief General
Michel Suleiman to congratulate him on the agreement to elect him as
Lebanon’s president this coming Sunday
21: 22: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem confirmed that he would attend the presidential election session.
19:33 Berri invited Iran’s FM Mottaki , Syria’s FM Mouallem and
Lebanon’s PM Fouad Siniora because he wanted the election of the
President a festive occasion to thank all who those that contributed to
the Doha accord”
