Aoun Rules Out Lebanese Election Unless Deputies Return to Beirut

Christian army chief Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun on Friday ruled out presidential elections in Lebanon unless deputies return to Beirut to win popular backing for their plan to end 14 years of civil war.

But acting Prime Minister Salim Hoss, Aoun’s chief Muslim political rival, told Egypt’s Middle East News Agency, “The train of peace has moved, and we don’t think anyone can stop it.”

Aoun told a news conference after talks with Arab League envoy Lakhdar Ibrahimi that the deputies must return to Lebanon to seek public approval for their plan before Parliament can convene.

A parliamentary session to elect a president and a Speaker and to endorse political reforms is the next stage of the peace plan sponsored by the Arab League and approved in Taif, Saudi Arabia, last Sunday by 58 of Lebanon’s 73 deputies.

Asked if Parliament could meet in Beirut by Nov. 7 as scheduled, Aoun said: “It depends on the deputies--if they come here or not. They have to come to see their people. . . . “

Reiterating his rejection of the accord, he said that if Parliament convened before the deputies consult voters “it will be . . . something like war.”

“If they (the deputies) are going to continue their violations, they will reach a dead end, not me,” Aoun said. “Today, we reached an abyss and whoever falls in is responsible for himself.”

He accused Christian deputies of betraying the people by breaking an agreement not to agree to political reforms before securing a guaranteed Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon.

The Taif accord delays a final decision on a total Syrian pullout until two years after the reforms, designed to give Muslims greater power in the Christian-dominated system, are implemented.

The accord is supported by foreign powers and many leaders in the Christian enclave, but Aoun said he told Ibrahimi, who is trying to arrange the parliamentary session, that it faces many problems.

Aoun heads a three-man Christian military Cabinet in East Beirut while Hoss leads a Syrian-backed government in Muslim West Beirut.

“I want a president who can go to Parliament and say ‘I am against Syria’ and remain alive,” said Aoun, adding that any electoral session outside Lebanon would be unconstitutional.

Aoun said deputies are afraid to return to the Christian enclave, but he offered to provide them with bodyguards so they could meet with voters. He said that if they were to win the people’s approval for their plan, he would step down.