Lebanon's squabbling political leaders gathered in Qatar on Friday for Arab-brokered talks aimed at ending a long-running feud that drove their country to the brink of a new civil war.
After 65 people were killed in nearly a week of fighting, the Beirut government and the Hezbollah-led opposition agreed to a national dialogue aimed at electing a president and forming a unity government.
In Doha on Friday they gathered in a luxury hotel for an opening session chaired by Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who then adjourned the meeting until the first round of talks proper yesterday.
As US President George W. Bush visited Saudi Arabia, Washington expressed its support for the Doha talks and vowed not to interfere.
“We are pleased that there is now a process, that the fighting in the streets have [sic] stopped,” a senior US State Department official said, requesting anonymity.
“What we are doing is making it clear first of all that we do support this process because there are a lot of people who would like to say that we don’t,” he said.
“We are in touch with Lebanese from across the political spectrum … to note that we are supporting this process, that we will be helpful but not interfering with this process,” the official said.
In an address to the politicians, the emir stressed the need to preserve unity and said he hoped the rivals would reach an agreement.
The two sides in the political conflict met after Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament majority leader Saad Hariri flew into Qatar on a private plane.
Christian leader Samir Geagea, former president Amin Gemayel and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt of the ruling coalition arrived separately on a Qatari aircraft that also brought opposition member and parliament speaker Nabih Berri and his ally Christian leader Michel Aoun.
The head of the militant Shiite Hezbollah movement, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, did not travel to Qatar, apparently for security reasons and was represented by Hezbollah member of parliament Mohammed Raad instead.
“These are early days. It’s just the first meeting,” Geagea told reporters after the adjournment.
The feuding politicians agreed on Thursday to launch a dialogue as part of a six-point plan, following Arab League mediation led by Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani.
Under the deal the rivals undertook “to shore up the authority of the Lebanese state throughout the country,” to refrain from using weapons to further political aims and to remove militants from the streets.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported yesterday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service NK Pro showed. It said
On an island of windswept tundra in the Bering Sea, hundreds of miles from mainland Alaska, a resident sitting outside their home saw — well, did they see it? They were pretty sure they saw it — a rat. The purported sighting would not have gotten attention in many places around the world, but it caused a stir on Saint Paul Island, which is part of the Pribilof Islands, a birding haven sometimes called the “Galapagos of the north” for its diversity of life. That is because rats that stow away on vessels can quickly populate and overrun remote islands, devastating bird
‘CLOSER TO THE END’: The Ukrainian leader said in an interview that only from a ‘strong position’ can Ukraine push Russian President Vladimir Putin ‘to stop the war’ Decisive actions by the US now could hasten the end of the Russian war against Ukraine next year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday after telling ABC News that his nation was “closer to the end of the war.” “Now, at the end of the year, we have a real opportunity to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” Zelenskiy said in a post on Telegram after meeting with a bipartisan delegation from the US Congress. “Decisive action now could hasten the just end of Russian aggression against Ukraine next year,” he wrote. Zelenskiy is in the US for the UN
A 64-year-old US woman took her own life inside a controversial suicide capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, with Swiss police on Tuesday saying several people had been arrested. The space-age looking Sarco capsule, which fills with nitrogen and causes death by hypoxia, was used on Monday outside a village near the German border. The portable human-sized pod, self-operated by a button inside, has raised a host of legal and ethical questions in Switzerland. Active euthanasia is banned in the country, but assisted dying has been legal for decades. On the same day it was used, Swiss Department of Home