BEIRUT (Agencies)
Lebanon's political leaders will begin a national dialogue on September 16 in a bid to resolve their political differences, President Michel Sleiman announced on Tuesday.
"I invite those who signed the Doha Agreement ... to come meet here in Baabda (the presidential palace) on September 16, 2008 at 11:00am (0800GMT)," Sleiman said at a meal he hosted for political and religious leaders to break the day's Ramadan fast.
The agenda of the dialogue is expected to focus mainly on a defense strategy which would eventually integrate Hezbollah weapons into the army.
On May 21, feuding political parties ended an 18-month-long political crisis with an agreement in the Qatari capital that led to Sleiman's election and the formation of a national unity cabinet.
The Doha Accord called for a national dialogue to be held under the president's auspices.
The dialogue follows on from one a 2006 initiative in which all major political leaders held several round-table meetings in hopes of forging political unity.
The talks were interrupted by the devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah that summer. |
