Clashes erupted late Monday minutes after Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam, in Beirut for talks with Lebanese leaders, announced an agreement on a plan to end the civil strife that began in 1975.
‘If we take into consideration the inclinations and the general spirit of the brothers (ministers) we spoke with, we can say that there are beginnings which will lead to a new phase in Lebanon,’ said Khaddam, a veteran mediator in Lebanese politics.
‘We have reached what we can call an agreement on many issues that can help the Lebanese government to counter the present situation.’
He met for 12 hours with officials in a bid to solve a political crisis that has dampened hopes for peace.
Prime Minister Rashid Karami’s unity government, established April 30, is split over military and political reforms and has not met since it won parliament’s vote of confidence last Tuesday.
At the heart of the Cabinet crisis is the Moslem majority’s demand to award key government posts to Moslems and strike a balance in the number of high-ranking officers in the 37,000-man Christian-dominated army. Christian factions have strongly opposed the demand.
The pro-Syrian Karami said the Cabinet would meet Wednesday, when ‘the steps agreed upon will be discussed, enforced by law and implemented very soon.’
Khaddam, who arrived by car, met first with Gemayel and Karami at the Bikfaya summer presidential palace, 7 miles east of Beirut.
He later met with Druze Moslem leader Walid Jumblatt, Christian leaders Pierre Gemayel and Camille Chamoun, and an envoy of Moslem Shiite chief Nabih Berri, who is hospitalized for an ear infection.
All four are Cabinet members and head militias who are fighting across Beiruts frontlines.
