Geagea: Maarab Rapprochement Step Closer to Taef, No Dialogue with Hizbullah

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geaega said that he anticipated the Maarab rapprochement with founder of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun to be one step in support of the Taef accord as he stressed there was no dialogue between the LF and Hizbullah.

“The Maarab rapprochement is one of the major steps in support of the Taef accord for the next phase,” he told al-Riyadh daily in an interview on Friday.

Geagea stressed that the nomination of Change and Reform bloc leader Aoun came after thorough political negotiations that reiterated adherence to the Taef agreement which was reached in 1989 to end the decades-long Lebanese Civil War.

Early this month in Maarab, Geagea of the March 14 camp endorsed Aoun of March 8 for the presidency, withdrawing his own nomination in favor of the MP.

Geagea said: “The ten points that we agreed upon (during the nomination of Aoun) have proven our adherence to coexistence.”

On reports claiming that his relations with March 14 camp were shaken following Aoun's nomination, he said: “There is no dissociation inside March 14. This is far from reality. It is true that political contacts with former PM Saad Harri are somewhat cold, but that does not spoil friendliness.

“The Coalition will continue as it has always been regardless of what can be achieved in that matter.”

He stressed that the reconciliation with Aoun was the right thing to do. “I was expecting this step to be generally welcomed by everyone because everyone was insisting in the last ten years on reconciliation with the FPM.”

On his relations with Hizbullah the LF leader stated that there is no ongoing dialogue between the two, refusing to link the timing of the presidential elections to the situation in Syria.

He also rejected Hizbullah's proposal to agree on several issues in “one basket” that included the presidency, the cabinet and parliamentary elections.

Lebanon is witnessing a state of presidential vacuum, parliamentary dysfunction and a cabinet paralysis that only restored functions recently.

“It is something we totally reject. The presidential elections only mean electing a president. Why link it to other issues such as the activation of the government?” he asked.

Expressing astonishment at Hizbullah's delay in backing the nomination of Aoun, he said: “Hizbullah spent one year and eight months emphasizing that it is backing the MP for the top state post. Today, the necessary preparations are over at the Christian level, and the majority of Christians now support him. I don't know what is hindering the party to speed up the steps to elect him?”

D.A.

G.K.