Middle East News
Lebanese leaders leave for talks in Doha (Roundup)
By DPA
May 16, 2008, 15:17 GMT

Beirut - The leaders of Lebanon rival political factions left for Qatar Friday in a bid to end the country's political crisis and elect a president, airport officials said.

The Arab League delegation managed at the last minute to convince opposition and majority leaders to fly on the same plane along with the delegation.

The Western-backed majority and the opposition led by the radical Shiite Hezbollah movement were invited to the talks in the Qatari capital Doha.

Earlier reports said the opposition and majority would take separate planes.

The head of the ruling majority, Saad Hariri was said to have left on a private jet.

Opposition sources said Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah would not go to Doha for security reasons. Hezbollah members of parliament (MPs) Mohammed Raad, Mohammed Fneish and Hussein Hajj Hassan would represent Nasrallah at the talks, the sources said.

Among the other Doha participants are a key member in the majority Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, opposition Christian leader Michel Aoun and his Christian rival Samir Geagea as well as former Lebanese president Amin Gemayel.

Premier Fouad Seniora along with three ministers and a number of his close aides are also headed to Doha, while House Speaker Nabih Berri accompanied by three of his MPs and his close aide Ali Hamdan were seen heading to Beirut International Airport.

In a sign of attempts to ease political tensions, the daily As Safir reported that Jumblatt telephoned Hajj Wafik Safa, Hezbollah's security coordinator, late Thursday in the first such contact between the two sides in a long time.

Quoting sources close to Jumblatt, As Safir said the Druze leader told Safa that 'throughout my life I used to fight with honour and make peace with honour.'

The Doha talks were announced by Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani at a news conference.

The leaders of the rival Lebanese factions agreed to talk in Doha, to elect Army Commander General Michel Suleiman as president and to form a national unity government.

The factions also agreed on spreading state authority throughout Lebanon, on refraining from using weapons for political aims, withdrawing gunmen from the streets and halting propaganda campaigns that agitate hatred.

Meanwhile, all roads that were closed on May 7 were opened by Hezbollah militants, including the highway leading to Beirut's international airport, paving the way for commercial flights to resume.

'The airport is the only link (from) Lebanon to the outside world,' said Hana Haidar, an employee at Lebanon's national carrier Middle East Air.