Talks continue in Lebanon amid fighting

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34132, 20 April 1976, Page 17

Talks continue in Lebanon amid fighting

<.v.Z P A.-Reuter-—<Copyright! BEIRUT, April 19. Rival gunmen lobbed mortar rounds deep into the Moslem and Christian sections of Beirut last night while a new tripartite committee, representing the warring factions, began discussions to find a durable cease-fire. Left and Right-wing militia forces kept up their war of attrition, dashing the hopes of Lebanon’s Christian community for a quiet Easter. Sniping and bursts of machine-gun fire maintained the tension along the battle lines running roughly north to south through the capital. A truce is supposed to have been in effect since April 2, but sporadic fighting has continued, and police sources say that at least 30 people were killed yesterday. The cease-fire body, called the Higher Military Committee. was formed last week. It includes the Palestinians and also Syria, whose dogged efforts to defuse the Lebanese crisis have led it to send up to 10,000 troops into Lebanon. The 11 committee-members who met last night under the chairmanship of Lebanese Prime Minister and Defence Minister (Mr Karami), represented Syria, two Palestinian commando groups, the Lebanese Army, two Leftwing parties, and the largest Right-wing party, the Phalan fists. V>pther prominent RightwingiMity, the National Lib-

erals. was not represented. Its leader, Mr Camille Chamoun, has said that he objects to several provisions of the Syrian-Palestinian initiative. But, the broadcast which announced last night’s meeting said that the National Liberals approved the convening of the committee. The body is regarded as the revival, in enlarged form, of an earlier supervisory committee, also called the Higher Military Committee, which broke up at the onset of serious fighting last month. Little of what was discussed was disclosed by the broadcast, which merely said that the committee had decided to stabilise the ceasefire and would meet again today. Hopes for implementing the present cease-fire agreement depend partly on political manoeuvres now under way, based on the Lebanese Left’s demands for the resignation of the Right-wing President Franjieh. Radio stations have announced that the President had signed a constitutional amendment allowing for Parliament to elect a successor straight away, but the decree has not yet been sent from the President’s temporary headquarters in the Christian sector of Lebanon to the Parliamentary Speaker (Mr Kamel AI-Asaad), who is staving on the Moslem side. The delay has raised doubts in some quarters whether Mr Franjieh, who stubbornly resisted earlier pressure to resign, has actually signed the amendment.