Jumblatt meets Egyptian President to discuss Syrian withdrawal скачать в хорошем качестве

Jumblatt meets Egyptian President to discuss Syrian withdrawal

(21 Mar 2005) 1. Exterior of Itehadeya Palace 2. Various of opposition leader Walid Jumblatt of the Druse party meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak 3. Jumblatt approaches lectern 4. SOUNDBITE (English): Walid Jumblatt, Druse leader: "The priority is elections, a clear-cut timetable for the withdrawal of the Syrians from Lebanon before the elections. Then after the results of the elections, we will see what will happen in the future for President (Emile) Lahoud." 5. Cutaway of cameraman 6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Walid Jumblatt, Druse leader: "For the future of Lebanon, we will hold dialogue only with Hezbollah. Now, we cannot hold a dialogue with a particular working group (the government) that was in government and then resigned, a group we accuse of negligence and of labelling others as traitors. No, we cannot do that. We can have a dialogue with Hezbollah in the long run, and we consider and think that Hezbollah is a Lebanese party, a Lebanese case. But to enter into a national dialogue or a national unity with a group, which we somewhere accuse, politically that is, of assassinating Hariri, no never." 7. Jumblatt exits room STORYLINE: Lebanese Druse leader Walid Jumblatt, a leader of the opposition campaign against Syria's military and political role in Lebanon, met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Monday. The two men discussed the political turmoil in Lebanon and possible solutions to end the conflict. The pro-Syrian Lebanese government resigned in February as a motion of "no confidence" was debated in the Lebanese parliament. Over the weekend, Jumblatt renewed his call for Lebanese President Emile Lahoud to step down as a way out of the political crisis. Jumblatt said he would welcome talks with the group Hezbollah, a powerful political and military organisation of Shia Muslims, which staged massive pro-government demonstrations. "For the future of Lebanon, we will hold dialogue only with Hezbollah. Now, we cannot hold a dialogue with a particular working group (the government) that was in government and then resigned, a group we accuse of negligence and of labelling others as traitors. No, we cannot do that. We can have a dialogue with Hezbollah in the long run, and we consider and think that Hezbollah is a Lebanese party, a Lebanese case," Jumblatt said Monday at a press conference in Cairo. The opposition blames the Beirut government and its Syrian backers for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and wants an international investigation and the resignation of Lebanon's security agency chiefs. "The priority is elections, a clear-cut timetable for the withdrawal of the Syrians from Lebanon before the elections. Then after the results of the elections, we will see what will happen in the future for President (Emile) Lahoud," Jumblatt said. The assassination of Hariri, a political rival of Lahoud, in a massive Beirut bombing threw the country into its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. Both the Lebanese and Syrian governments deny involvement in Hariri's killing, which triggered massive anti-government and anti-Syrian street protests and counter-demonstrations by the pro-government camp. Hariri's assassination and the subsequent tension also brought international pressure on Syria to withdraw its army and intelligence agents from Lebanon after nearly three decades. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...