Shultz Meets Gemayel on Lebanon Peace
Secretary of State George P. Shultz made an unscheduled stop here today to meet with President Amin Gemayel of Lebanon in an effort to seal a Syrian-arranged deal for a new Lebanese constitution to end the nation’s 12-year-old civil war.
Shultz, who was headed home from a futile effort to set up Arab-Israeli peace talks, met with Gemayel at Larnaca Airport for 90 minutes.
After the meeting, Shultz said April Glasbie, head of the Lebanon desk in the U.S. State Department, will go to Beirut to continue the American mediation.
Shultz said his talk with Gemayel was “productive,” but he gave no details. After the meeting, Gemayel returned to Lebanon in the army helicopter that brought him on the 100-mile flight to Cyprus. He made no statement.
Shultz told reporters that a new division of power among the competing factions in Lebanon would help all countries in the area.
“We want to see an election go off successfully,” he said. Gemayel’s term expires in September.
Gemayel, a Maronite Christian, has sought for nearly six years to gain control of his country. But Syria, Lebanon’s more powerful neighbor to the east, plays a dominant role in Lebanese politics.
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