DOHA, 21 May 2008 — Qatari-led mediators gave Lebanon’s Hezbollah-led opposition a deadline for today to respond to proposals aimed at resolving a political crisis, which brought the country to the brink of civil war. Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmad Abdullah Al-Mahmood said the mediators had put forward two proposals to break the deadlock between the US-supported ruling coalition and the opposition.
“One of the sides asked for one extra day to respond to these proposals ... and the committee agreed to give a one day deadline till tomorrow,” Mahmood told reporters yesterday. The negotiations in Doha, which aim to prevent Lebanon sliding back into sectarian strife, follow the Arab League’s intervention last week to end the country’s worst domestic fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Hezbollah used its military muscle to thwart a government attempt to limit its power, briefly seizing parts of Beirut in fighting that killed 81 people. Delegates in Qatar said the governing coalition accepted both proposals to overcome disagreements on sharing power in a national unity government and changes to an election law.
“We are not the party that asked for the postponement,” government minister Ahmed Fatfat told Al Jazeera television. Agreement on the election law and power sharing in cabinet — where the opposition has demanded a veto — would pave the way for Parliament to elect army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman as president, a post that has been vacant since November.
