Qatar hosts squabbling Lebanese politicians

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

DOHA (AFP) — Lebanon's squabbling political leaders were to meet in Qatar on Friday for talks brokered by the Arab League aimed at ending a long-running feud that drove the country to the brink of a new civil war.

After nearly a week of fighting that left 65 people dead and some 200 wounded, the US-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition agreed to a new national dialogue aimed at electing a president and forming a unity government.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani was due to open the talks in a Doha hotel at 9:00 pm (1800 GMT).

A six-point plan was agreed in Beirut on Thursday, under the mediation of an Arab League delegation headed by Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani.

Under the deal...