BEIRUT, 30 April 2006 — Rival Lebanese politicians failed to agree on Friday whether to remove the pro-Syrian president and adjourned talks to end a political crisis without broaching the most complex issue of Hezbollah’s weapons. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said the “national dialogue” conference, the first top-level political gathering since Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, would resume on May 16.
“Until now, no agreement has been reached on the issue of the presidency,” he told reporters after the closed session. “It was decided that we would follow up this issue and after that move on to the remaining issue, the weapons of the resistance (Hezbollah), on May 16.” President Emile Lahoud has been under pressure to resign from anti-Syrian politicians, who see him as the last vestige of Syrian tutelage that ended a year ago.
Politicians agreed at the last session three weeks ago to lay the dispute to rest one way or the other on Friday, but political sources said the rifts have widened. The president, who has appeared relaxed and assertive on television in recent weeks, has vowed to serve until the end of his term in November 2007.
