Arab mediators scrambled Tuesday to salvage Lebanese crisis talks in Qatar, offering rival factions two proposals on how to end their country's 18-month political deadlock, the dpa reported.
Hours after the mediators gave the parties a day to consider the proposals, a top aide to Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is aligned with the Hezbollah-led opposition, indicated progress was being made. Ali Hassan Khalil said early Wednesday that "a compromise was near," according to Lebanese opposition TV station NBN.
There was no immediate comment from Lebanon's Western-backed government.
The talks follow an Arab League-mediated deal that got the Lebanese to end a week of violence, the worst since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, and agree to hold negotiations in Doha on overcoming the crisis that has paralyzed the country.
The move Tuesday was seen as a final attempt by the Arab hosts after the negotiations, in their fourth day, teetered near collapse.
Gen. Michel Aoun, a Christian opposition leader and Hezbollah ally, had said he would return to Lebanon on Wednesday, signaling that the Doha talks could end soon.
"I think (I'm returning to Beirut) tomorrow because there should be tonight a final and frank answer from the governing coalition about the entire agreement," Aoun said in an interview with Lebanon's private Al-Jadeed Television.
He said an agreement hinged largely on the parliamentary majority accepting the opposition's demands for veto power in a national unity government and an electoral law deemed satisfactory to both sides.
Late Tuesday night, Lebanese television stations began reporting varying versions of a compromise being worked out on the electoral law. Then came Khalil's brief comment saying an announcement was near.
The Qatari minister of state for foreign affairs, Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud, said the two proposals were the "best solutions" the mediators came up with to resolve Lebanon's crisis. He would not reveal their content, nor would the two Lebanese camps.
The talks focused on the issues of the makeup of a national unity government and the electoral law that would lead to the election of a new Lebanese president by parliament. The negotiations hit snags from the very start, with neither side willing to give concessions.
The new electoral law is significant because it will determine how the sides distribute power in the capital and would directly influence the outcome of parliament elections in 2009.
Lebanon's crisis exploded into violence May 7, with clashes between pro-government groups and the Hezbollah-led opposition raging in the streets of Muslim west Beirut, the central mountains and the north. At least 67 people died.
An agreement in Doha is meant to lead to the election of compromise presidential candidate, Gen. Michel Suleiman, commander of the army. Lebanon has had no president since pro-Syria Emile Lahoud's term ended in November.
The Hezbollah-led opposition has insisted the solution be a package deal, and include both the composition of the government and the election law, before the camps return to Beirut, where Suleiman's election would follow in parliament.