Dozens of Lebanese held a sit-in on the road to sent a message to feuding Lebanese leaders meeting in Qatar to reach an agreement before coming back home.

18-month political crisis ends - 21 / 05 / 2008 09:48

Rival Lebanese factions reached an agreement Wednesday to resolve an 18-month political crisis that erupted into bloody violence and pushed the country to the edge of another civil war, a Cabinet minister said.

Delegates from the U.S.-backed government and Hezbollah-led opposition reached the breakthrough agreement after five days of intensive talks in the oil-rich Gulf Arab state of Qatar.

The Qatar-hosted talks followed Lebanon's worst internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war, with clashes between pro-government groups and the opposition raging in the streets of Muslim west Beirut, the central mountains and the north. At least 67 people died.

Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh told The Associated Press from Qatar that the agreement was reached at dawn and the factions would formally sign it within hours at a ceremony hosted by the Qatari emir.

Opposition television stations were also reporting that the two sides had reached an agreement.

Broadcast NBN says a formal announcement was expected later in the day.

Hamadeh provided few specific details about the agreement but said it included giving the opposition veto power in a new national unity government.

Obtaining veto power was the key Hezbollah demand that triggered the 1 1/2-year-long crisis.

The agreement also was aimed at resolving disputes over electing a new president and drafting an electoral law.

Disputes over the electoral law had become a major sticking point over the last two days of talks in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The law is significant because it determines how the factions will distribute power in Beirut, which would influence the outcome of Lebanon's next parliamentary elections in 2009.

Hamadeh said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was expected to call parliament to session to elect the consensus presidential candidate, army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman, by Friday.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, when Emile Lahoud stepped down.

The two sides had agreed on Suleiman but disagreements over the remaining issues — including the formation of the national unity government and electoral law — stalled his election.

The Doha-based negotiations came after the Arab League mediated a deal to end the week of deadly violence that paralyzed parts of the country.

The violence first erupted May 7, when Shiite Hezbollah gunmen and their allies overran much of Muslim West Beirut in protest of anti-Hezbollah government measures, routing Sunni groups from some of their strongholds.

The Qatar negotiations hit snags from the very start, with neither side willing to give concessions.

The agreement was reached after host Qatar stepped up the pressure Tuesday with Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani personally intervening.

The 18-month political deadlock started when opposition lawmakers resigned from the government in November 2006 to protest a Cabinet refusal to grant them enough seats to ensure veto power over policy decisions.

AP