Report: French-Saudi Deal to Exclude Miqati from Premiership
France and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement to indefinitely exclude Prime Minister Najib Miqati from the Lebanese premiership if a new government is formed, diplomatic sources said Monday.
The sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the deal was reached between French President Francois Hollande and Saudi King Abdullah during talks in Jeddah attended by former Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri, who is the head of the opposition al-Mustaqbal movement.
“We absolutely don't accept Miqati,” Hollande was quoted as telling Abdullah in the meeting.
Hollande visited Saudi Arabia on Sunday following a short trip to Lebanon where he only met with President Michel Suleiman.
The diplomatic sources told al-Joumhouria that the French president's meeting with Suleiman and his talks with King Abdullah in Hariri's presence was a clear French-Saudi message that Miqati should resign and not think about returning to the Grand Serail.
Their remarks came as An Nahar daily quoted Miqati's visitors as saying that his government “would sooner or later resign.”
But the resignation hinges on the consultations that Suleiman is holding with the different parties in Lebanon. “He is aware that consultations in the absence of a major partner in the country represented by the March 14 forces would not lead to the required change.”
Sources close to the prime minister also told An Nahar that Miqati, who is currently on an official visit to Bulgaria and Hungary, held a telephone conversion with Suleiman on Sunday.
However, Miqati is not aware of the details of the consultations that the president is holding with the country's different factions, they said.
But he hopes that the French president's visit to Beirut would lead to a “crack in the wall of the crisis and create a vision that would contribute to drawing a roadmap for the next stage to preserve Lebanon from the repercussions of the crises around it.”
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