By Xinhua
Beirut : Lebanese Parliament Speaker and opposition leader Nabih Berri has said that his call for a national dialogue among rival leaders should be favored by all sides particularly the ruling majority, local As Safir daily reported Friday.
“The issue of resuming dialogue depends on the consensus of different parties especially the pro-government side,” Berri, who returned late Thursday to Beirut from a European tour, was quoted as saying.
Berri had said he would launch a dialogue grouping all Lebaneseelite leaders if the Arab summit held in Damascus last week failed to solve the crises, local media reported.
The ruling coalition has criticized the call, preferringdialogue to be headed by a new president.
According to political sources, the Parliament speaker is planning to postpone the launching of a new round of dialogue a waiting the results of the visit of Arab League Chief Amr Moussa. Berri’s assistant MP Ali Khreis said Thursday the Speaker Berri would not call Lebanese leaders to dialogue if the “Arab League chief succeeded in bridging the gap between feuding groups.”
An Arab initiative endorsed in Cairo on Jan. 6 calls for the election of army commander Michel Suleiman as president, formation of a national unity government, and adoption of a new election Law.
Lebanon is currently facing the most serious political deadlock since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. For the first time in its history, the presidential seat has been vacant since Nov. 24of 2007 when former President Emile Lahoud stepped down. Lebanese rival groups are unable to reach an agreement to elect a new president in spite of Arab efforts to help resolve the problem.