Berri Optimistic about Hizbullah-Mustaqbal Dialogue, Says Not in Full Agreement with Jumblat over Hostages

Speaker Nabih Berri has denied that the much anticipated dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement would be postponed over differences on the agenda of the talks.

In remarks published in local dailies on Wednesday, Berri said: “I am 100 percent reassured and hope the first session would be held by the end of the year.”

Both Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal are committed to the dialogue, he said.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc stressed on Tuesday the importance of communicating with Hizbullah with the aim of reaching an agreement on the presidential crisis.

The election of a president would contribute to alleviating tensions in the country, it said.

The March 8 camp is holding onto the candidacy of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun against Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, who is the nominee of the March 14 alliance.

The rivalry between Aoun and Geagea has led to a lack of quorum in more than a dozen electoral sessions in parliament

Baabda Palace has been vacant since President Michel Suleiman's term ended on May 25.

Berri said that Jean-François Girault, who is the head of the French Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and North Africa department, made a two-day visit to Beirut to brief Lebanese officials on the results of his contacts with Tehran, Riyadh and the Vatican on the presidential deadlock.

Asked whether he was optimistic about the attempts aimed at ending the crisis, the speaker said: “If the solution was not in our hands, then I wouldn't be optimistic.”

Meanwhile, Berri was asked about Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat's announcement on Tuesday that they both backed an unconditional prisoner swap to resolve the hostage crisis.

“I always agree with Jumblat but in this case I am not totally in agreement with him over the details,” said Berri.

He refused to give further information.

Jumblat visited on Tuesday the families of the hostages who are holding a protest in Beirut's Riad al-Solh square, reiterating his support for a swap deal in the case of the captive servicemen.

The soldiers and policemen were taken hostage by al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State group when they overran the northeastern border town of Arsal in early August.

G.K.

H.K.