Top politicians in northern Lebanon signed a reconciliation agreement on Monday calling for an end to the sectarian violence that has killed and wounded scores in the past three months.
The six-point agreement calls for abstaining from force, the deployment of the army to tense areas and a timetable for the return of displaced people.
It also calls for finding temporary homes for those whose houses were damaged, as well as compensation, mainly for people in Lebanon’s second city of Tripoli.
The agreement was signed by more than a dozen Sunni and Alawite leaders at the residence of the grand mufti of north Lebanon, Sheik Malek al-Shaar, who has been acting as a mediator.
Tripoli, about 90km north of Beirut, has been the scene of sectarian clashes between Sunnis and followers of the Alawite sect, an offshoot Shiite sect, killing and wounding dozens.
Parliament majority leader Saad Hariri, the country’s most powerful Sunni leader, has been staying in Tripoli for the past three days and meeting officials from different groups to help reach the agreement. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora went from Beirut to Tripoli to witness the signing ceremony on Monday night.
“Tripoli should be a city without weapons because weapons in the hands of individuals do not protect anyone,” Saniora said shortly before the document was signed. “He who will undermine the city’s security is an enemy to the city no matter to what group he belongs. No one will protect him.”
The reconciliation comes after Arab officials warned that the situation could go out of control in Lebanon.
Last week, Syrian President Bashar Assad said the situation in Lebanon is still “fragile” as long as extremists groups are still active in northern Lebanon. He was referring to the conservative Salafi branch of Islam that has a presence in northern Lebanon.
During a visit to Lebanon late last month, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit also warned about the situation in the north of the country.
The reconciliation was also praised by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and other officials including top Shiite religious leaders.
The leader of the militant Hezbollah group Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday he supports the reconciliation in the north saying that such a move should be extended to Beirut that witnessed sectarian clashes of its own earlier this year in which 81 people died and more than 200 were wounded.
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