Lebanon leaders close on fate of Palestinian arms

By Laila Bassam

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's leaders inched closer to agreement on disarming the country's Palestinian militants but remained at odds over the fate of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and Hizbollah arms, a senior politician said on Saturday.

He said progress was slow at the so-called "national dialogue conference" of rival Muslim and Christian leaders, both pro- and anti-Syrian -- the largest such gathering since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

"The leaders are close to reaching an agreement on the issue of Palestinian militants' arms outside the refugee camps," the source told Reuters without elaboration.

The Lebanese government has said the pro-Syrian Palestinian militants must shut down their military posts outside the country's dozen squalid camps as demanded by a 2004 UN Security Council resolution. The militants have rejected such demands, saying their arms were there to fight Israel.

But the government, which says it wants to resolve the issue through talks, has come under fire from several Damascus allies after the Lebanese army's heavy deployment around the posts along the border with Syria in October.

They have accused the anti-Syrian majority in parliament of pressing to disarm the Palestinians to pile pressure on Hizbollah to relinquish its weapons, another demand of the same Security Council resolution

"Discussions are still ongoing concerning Hizbollah and the presidency but without an agreement in sight so far," the political source said.

Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, representing anti-Syrian Druze leader Walid Jumblatt who left for a visit to the United States, said the talks were complex.

"We have not reached an agreement because the issues are thorny and complicated," he told the BBC Arabic Service.

The talks, which started on Thursday at parliament, could last for up to a week.

Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun and pro-Syrian Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah were against forcing out Lahoud, who is opposed by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, political sources have said.

They both highlighted the need to agree on a successor and his political program in case Lahoud chooses to resign voluntarily. Lahoud says he would serve out his mandate which expires in 2007.

The extension of Lahoud's term in 2004 at Syria's behest has plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis since the end of the war and set Damascus on collision course with the international community.

Syria bowed to world pressure and street protest to end its 29-year military presence in Lebanon after the killing of ex-Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

An ongoing UN inquiry has already implicated Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies, including four generals loyal to Lahoud, in the murder. They have all denied any role.

Source

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