Geagea predicts more killings, says his name is on the list

by **Admin** Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:02 am

Murr challenges reform and change MPs to face him in polls

Lebanese
Forces boss Samir Geagea predicted Thursday more assassinations against
politicians of the parliamentary majority in Lebanon and said that his
name was among other names on the target list. In an interview with BBC
television, Geagea accused Syria of being behind such plots.

He
said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri wanted to visit Saudi Arabia in a
bid to mediate between Riyadh and Damascus, thus putting more pressure
on Lebanon's ruling coalition.

Berri,
who visited Syria, Egypt, and Qatar, is also expected to visit Riyadh,
but Saudi officials have yet to set an appointment for the speaker.

Commenting
on Berri's proposal about dropping the opposition's demand of forming a
unity government in return for approval by the ruling majority of the
adoption of the qada-based 1960 electoral law in the next parliamentary
elections, Geagea said the March 14 Forces were still not sure if Berri
was speaking for himself or on behalf of the entire opposition.

Despite
the fact that Berri's proposed dialogue is not likely to take place
ahead of the April 22 Parliament session to elect a president, Amal
Movement MP Ali Hassan Khalil said Thursday Berri was still committed
to holding national talks.

Khalil said Berri's proposed dialogue was aimed at facilitating the implementation of the three-point Arab initiative.

Meanwhile,
MP Michel Murr, who recently split from Free Patriotic Movement leader
General Michel Aoun's Reform and Change bloc, challenged Metn MPs in
the bloc to contest him in elections in a month's time.
"I
did not ask any bloc member to take the same step I did, but I
challenge the Metn MPs within the bloc to resign and contest me in
elections after a month from now. In the outcome of the elections, I
will either go home or the people responsible for obstructing the
presidential election will go home," Murr said.

In
an interview with NBN television late Wednesday, Murr said his position
on the need to elect a new president as soon as possible is not new to
the Reform and Change bloc.

"When
I was still a member of the bloc, I told my colleagues more than once
that we should not be blocking the election of Army Commander Michel
Suleiman as president," Murr said.

"After
we agreed on a consensus candidate who was acceptable to both the
opposition and the parliamentary majority, the Arab initiative came to
restore the privileges of the Christian president that were stripped
from him by the Taif Accord," he added. Murr argued that the three-way
power sharing formula proposed by the initiative was an important asset
for the Christian president, who was almost marginalized by the 1989
constitutional amendments.

The
Taif Accord introduced major amendments to the Constitution and as a
result the privileges of the country's Christian president were
diminished in favor of the Cabinet.

While
denying that he was at personal odds with Aoun, Murr said he was ready
to convince Aoun's allies in the opposition to head to Parliament and
elect a president if Aoun himself takes such step.

In
a related development, former President Amin Gemayel's adviser Salim
Sayegh said Murr and Gemayel had a phone conversation Thursday.

Sayegh
added that the two leaders would soon meet to discuss the measures to
be taken in order to end the ongoing presidential vacuum.