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BEIRUT-Lebanon's main anti-Syrian Christian leader accused Syria and its allies on Wednesday of blocking a deal on a new president, just two days before the incumbent's term ends.Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces group, said the Damascus-backed opposition was threatening chaos if their preferred candidate did not replace pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, who is due to leave office on Friday.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned there was "a real possibility of a confrontation" if anti-Syrian leaders and their rivals do not agree on the new head of state this week.Ban visited Lebanon last week to urge the politicians to agree, warning them that a country still rebuilding from its 1975-1990 civil war stood on "the brink of the abyss"."Should the parties fail to reach agreement by 24 November, there is a real possibility of a confrontation," Ban told an informal meeting of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.Ban's comments added to intense international pressure on the rivals to reach a deal on the presidency-the latest stage in their year-long power struggle.Parliament has been called to meet on Friday to elect the new president. But with no consensus among Lebanon's political chiefs the vote-already postponed four times-will not succeed, pitching the country towards even more instability.Many fear Lebanon could be left with two rival administrations, one backed by the West and the other by Syria and Iran. The rival camps have accused each other of arming and training supporters. Geagea told Reuters that "Syria and its allies have shut the door on consensus despite all our efforts"."The only actual remaining solution is for all deputies to go to Friday's session to elect a president," Geagea said."Let Syria and its allies agree on a certain candidate and we will agree on a candidate and go to parliament."Syria has stated its support for French-led efforts to reach a deal. Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal said "Syria's candidate for the presidency is the one the Lebanese reach consensus upon".CALL FOR COMPROMISE
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, one of Syria's most vocal Lebanese critics, urged compromises to avert bloodshed."My advice to everyone and to the Christians especially is to protect civil peace in Lebanon ... which requires everyone to make concessions," Jumblatt told As-Safir newspaper. "The people won't be merciful to us and they won't forgive us over a single drop of blood that falls in the street. What is required of us is to get out of this dark tunnel quickly and any deal makes civil peace the winner," he said.The opposition has said it will not go to parliament unless there is agreement on a single candidate, who must be a Maronite Christian according to Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system.The ruling coalition holds only a slim majority and the opposition says the vote requires two-thirds of the MPs.Geagea said the chances that a deal would be reached in the next 24 hours were very bleak.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has been in Beirut since Sunday on his sixth trip since taking office in May.French President Nicolas Sarkozy's chief of staff, Claude Gueant, met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Tuesday and Sarkozy himself spoke to Assad by telephone.Geagea said the majority would wait for "a few hours or a few days" before electing a new head of a state on its own if there was no vote on Friday. The opposition have said such a move would plunge Lebanon into chaos."It is unacceptable and incomprehensible to leave the country without a president," Geagea said.
As in the days of Noah....
