Saniora Meets with Top Officials after Paris Visit

Al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora visited caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Thursday night, culminating a round of talks he held with the country's top officials following his return from Paris.

Saniora's meetings started on Thursday with President Michel Suleiman as part of a delegation from the southern city of Sidon. He then held talks at his residence with Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel.

The MP also held a telephone conversation with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and several officials from the March 14 alliance, An Nahar newspaper said Friday.

Officials close to Saniora told the daily that he was still committed to his promise to remain in contact with Speaker Nabih Berri.

Ties between them have recently deteriorated after Saniora accused Berri of seeking to impose the power of the parliament on the rest of the institutions amid an insistence by the speaker to call for parliamentary sessions.

The March 14 coalition and mainly al-Mustaqbal have been boycotting the sessions over claims that the parliament should only convene for emergency issues amid a resigned cabinet.

Saniora recently met with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in Paris.

An al-Mustaqbal official told An Nahar that “things will not get straight nationally if Hizbullah did not announce its withdrawal from Syria and its commitment to the Baabda Declaration.”

The official, who was not identified, accused Hizbullah of endangering Lebanon by contradicting the policy of dissociation approved in Baabda by the country's political parties.

The official said the differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances did not only lie on the formation of the cabinet and the division of shares.

“Al-Mustaqbal won't be part of a government in which Hizbullah (and its allies) are a majority,” he said.

Premier-designate Tammam Salam has so far failed to form his cabinet amid conditions and counter conditions set by the rival parties.