The World - News from Jan. 19, 1989

Lebanese leaders of rival Christian and Muslim Cabinets have agreed to cooperate with the Arab League in a bid to prevent the formal partition of the nation, officials said. Acting Premier Salim Hoss, head of the Muslim Cabinet, said he will leave for Tunisia later this month for talks with a new committee of the 22-member league on ways of resolving the four-month political crisis that threatens to cement Lebanon’s partition along sectarian lines. A political source in Christian East Beirut said that the army commander, Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun, who heads the Christian Cabinet, also “welcomed the Arab League’s interest in the Lebanese situation and expressed readiness to cooperate with the committee.”