UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Lebanese leaders on Friday that their country stood on the brink of an "abyss" if they failed to put their differences aside to elect a new president by a Nov. 23 deadline.
"If the responsibilities are not shouldered, there might be a move to the brink of an abyss," the UN chief said after holding talks with members of the Western-backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition.
"This is the time for all Lebanese leaders to put their national interest above personal and sectarian interests," Ban said.
PHOTO: EPA
The UN chief also met with Nasrallah Sfeir, the influential spiritual leader of the Christian Maronite community, during his 24-hour visit that began late on Thursday.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's government and the opposition, which is backed by Syria and Iran, have been engaged in a bitter power struggle over who should be chosen to replace the current Damascus-backed head of state Emile Lahoud, whose term expires next Saturday.
Sfeir on Friday submitted to both sides a list of potential candidates in hope they could agree on one or several names ahead of a crucial vote in parliament next Wednesday.
The crisis is the country's worst since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war and there are fears the conflict will lead to two rival governments, as was the case at the end of the war.
Lebanon's president must be a Maronite Christian according to the country's confessional power-sharing system and is elected by parliament rather than by popular suffrage.
Three special parliamentary sessions to elect a successor to Lahoud have already been postponed because of the deadlock and there are fears that a last-chance vote next Wednesday could meet the same fate.
Saad Hariri, head of the majority bloc in parliament, said on Friday he believed there could be a "breakthrough" at any moment and that he was confident the election would take place by the constitutional deadline.
"It could happen at any time, we're good to go," Hariri said. "We don't seek a presidential void and we want to elect a president."
He added that French efforts to end the crisis had broad support with only Damascus and its local allies voicing opposition.
"The attacks on the French initiative are coming from one source -- Syria and its tools," he said.
France, Lebanon's former colonial power, has spearheaded diplomatic efforts for the vote to take place with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner convincing the Maronite patriarch earlier this week to draw up a list of candidates whose names could then be put to both the majority and the opposition.
Apart from Kouchner and the UN chief, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema was expected in Beirut late on Friday to join the diplomatic efforts.
Kouchner is also scheduled to return next week -- for his sixth visit in as many months -- to ensure the vote goes through.
The administration of Siniora has been paralyzed since the opposition withdrew its six ministers in November last year in an attempt to gain more representation in government.
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
SECRETIVE SECT: Tetsuya Yamagami was said to have held a grudge against the Unification Church for bankrupting his family after his mother donated about ￥100m The gunman accused of killing former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe yesterday pleaded guilty, three years after the assassination in broad daylight shocked the world. The slaying forced a reckoning in a nation with little experience of gun violence, and ignited scrutiny of alleged ties between prominent conservative lawmakers and a secretive sect, the Unification Church. “Everything is true,” Tetsuya Yamagami said at a court in the western city of Nara, admitting to murdering the nation’s longest-serving leader in July 2022. The 45-year-old was led into the room by four security officials. When the judge asked him to state his name, Yamagami, who
DEADLY PREDATORS: In New South Wales, smart drumlines — anchored buoys with baited hooks — send an alert when a shark bites, allowing the sharks to be tagged High above Sydney’s beaches, drones seek one of the world’s deadliest predators, scanning for the flick of a tail, the swish of a fin or a shadow slipping through the swell. Australia’s oceans are teeming with sharks, with great whites topping the list of species that might fatally chomp a human. Undeterred, Australians flock to the sea in huge numbers — with a survey last year showing that nearly two-thirds of the population made a total of 650 million coastal visits in a single year. Many beach lovers accept the risks. When a shark killed surfer Mercury Psillakis off a northern Sydney beach last
‘NO WORKABLE SOLUTION’: An official said Pakistan engaged in the spirit of peace, but Kabul continued its ‘unabated support to terrorists opposed to Pakistan’ Pakistan yesterday said that negotiations for a lasting truce with Afghanistan had “failed to bring about a workable solution,” warning that it would take steps to protect its people. Pakistan and Afghanistan have been holding negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, aimed at securing peace after the South Asian neighbors’ deadliest border clashes in years. The violence, which killed more than 70 people and wounded hundreds, erupted following explosions in Kabul on Oct. 9 that the Taliban authorities blamed on Pakistan. “Regrettably, the Afghan side gave no assurances, kept deviating from the core issue and resorted to blame game, deflection and ruses,” Pakistani Minister of
RSS