By DPA
Beirut : Arab League efforts headed by Secretary General Amr Mussa have failed to resolve a stalemate over Lebanon’s presidency as Mussa prepared to leave the country Saturday.
Mussa, who arrived in Beirut Wednesday, has described the situation in Lebanon as “dangerous”, but said he would return to the Lebanese capital Thursday or Friday.
Lebanon has been without a president since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down on Nov 23 because of bitter rivalry between the pro and anti-Syrian camps.
A source close to Mussa said: “The Arab League official felt during his two-day marathon talks that all leaders in Lebanon are keen to resolve the crisis, but no one is taking the initiative.
“The situation in Lebanon is also difficult because it is linked to regional tensions.”
A Lebanese opposition source, close to the radical Shia movement Hezbollah, said: “The ruling (anti-Syrian) majority has refused to accept a bilateral meeting between the head of the majority Saad Hariri and (hardline Christian) opposition leader Michel Aoun.
“Failing to achieve this meeting caused a setback to Mussa’s mission in Lebanon.”
Observers believe that the majority has refused to meet Aoun because they do not want him to appear as “the sole Christian leader who represents all the Christians in the country”.
The Lebanese opposition has named Aoun their spokesman in the negotiations with Mussa.
A 12th parliamentary session to elect Lebanon’s president was postponed Friday to Jan 21 despite intense international efforts to get the rival parties to agree on an Arab League compromise.
Berri said that he postponed the session after meeting Mussa in the hope that an agreement would be reached on an Arab plan “very soon” to end the presidential crisis.
The Arab initiative is based on a three-point plan that calls for the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, the formation of a national-unity government in which no one party has veto power and the adoption of a new electoral law.
Although the ruling coalition has given the plan its full backing, Hezbollah is insisting the opposition be granted a third of the seats in a new 30-member government so as to have the veto power over key decisions.
The Arab plan calls for the majority to hold 14 seats in the new cabinet, the opposition 10 seats and Suleiman would be able to pick six ministers, making him the arbiter in any contested decisions.
Chafik al-Masri, a political analyst, said the stalemate would stretch until March and could continue possibly until the 2009 legislative elections.
“The regional issues are prevailing heavily on the situation in Lebanon, especially the upcoming legislative elections in Iran, the US elections and the Arab summit to be held in Syria in March,” Masri added.
The crisis between the two camps is widely seen as an extension of the regional confrontation pitting US and its allies against Syria and Iran.