Sfeir warns against calls for Lahoud's resignation

Lebanon's Maronite Patriarch Nasrullah Sfeir, currently visiting the USA, warned against the consequences of the calls for the resignation of the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud for fears of creating a constitutional vacuum.

The opposition Druz Lebanese leader Walid Junblat on Thursday renewed his call for the resignation of Lahoud. He said that the opposition will not take part in a national union government as long as the Lebanese president is in power.

Junblat expected the collapse of any government formed by the designated Prime minister Omar Karami. He stressed that dialogue is continuous with Hizbullah party and that few opposition members want to dismantle its weapons.

Leader of the Free National Trend Maj. Gen Michael Aoun called in press statements in Paris for national unity and rejected any idea for what he called revenge linked to the political crisis taking place in Lebanon.

For her part, parliamentarian Baheyya Hariri refused the suggestion made by the secretary general of the Lebanese Hizbullah party Hassan Nasrullah to have an Arab committee to investigate in the assassination of her brother, former Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri. She stressed her cling to an international investigation committee and the resignation of heads of security departments.