Junblat in Egypt, warning against the return of violence to Lebanon
Lebanon-Egypt, Politics, 3/21/2005

Lebanese Druz parliamentarian and leader of the Lebanese Socialist Progressive party, Walid Junblat, is visiting Egypt where he expects to meet today with President Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak's talks with Junblat, who is considered one of the main pillars of the opposition in Lebanon, is expected to deal with developments in Lebanon and its regional and international implications.

This very unique and unexpected visit falls in the course of moves carried out by Junblat at the regional level. He earlier visited Saudi Arabia.

The new move of the Druz leader came at a time when the Lebanese opposition warned in a statement issued today of new assassination attempts, noting that there are threats of assassination targeting several leadership opposition figures.

In the same context, the secretary general of the UN Kofi Annan expressed the UN deep concern over the risks of the return back of political tension in Lebanon, following the explosion which took place on Saturday at dawn in Beirut and resulted in wounding 11 persons and large material losses.

The UN special envoy to the Middle East Terje Roed-Larsen warned against the assassination of a new Lebanese figure. He was quoted by Lebanese papers on Sunday that he feels concerned over the possibility of acts of violence to have had taken place before the Hariri assassination on February 14 and after that.

However, the Lebanese opposition refused the call made by President Emile Lahoud to maintain dialogue in order to solve the political crisis which hit the country since the assassination of Rafic Hariri.

Junblat said that Lahoud is not independent as he wants to show himself, rather he is "suspect." The Druz parliamentarian warned of new explosions that might target politicians if heads of security departments and Lahoud do not resign.

Previous Stories:
  Egyptian efforts to defuse the Syrian crisis in Lebanon   (2/24/2005)
  Mubarak meets Hariri: Amending the constitution is a Lebanese question   (9/9/2004)
  Hariri holds talks in Egypt   (9/8/2004)

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