French experts meet Lebanon's water minister over river row with Israel

BEIRUT, Oct 25 (AFP) - Two French experts studying Lebanon's project to divert water from a border river that has angered neighbouring Israel held talks here Friday with the water and energy minister, officials said.

The experts, Vasken Andreassian and Philippe Hospital, discussed with the minister, Mohammed Abdul Hamid Beydoun, their visit the previous day to the pumping station and pipelines from the Wazzani river in southern Lebanon.

For his part, Beydoun told them Lebanon would not channel more water than it is entitled to, in line with international treaties. The two experts, a legal and a hydrology specialist, arrived in Lebanon on Wednesday and are to remain until the end of the week, a French diplomat in Beirut said.

They are to coordinate their work with a European Union mission which has also been inspecting the project, an EU official said. On October 16, Lebanon inaugurated the project to provide water to southern villages despite threats of war from Israel that brought about a visit by US State Department water expert Charles Lawson.

Lebanon says the quantity it plans to take from the Wazzani -- which indirectly feeds into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main fresh water reservoir -- remains much less than its share under an unratified 1955 agreement. The involvement of experts from the EU and United States, under the supervision of the United Nations as Lebanon requested, has helped to lower tensions on the sensitive Israel-Lebanon border.

Lebanese PM to visit France for talks on planned Paris II aid forum

BEIRUT, Oct 25 (AFP) - Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri is to travel to Paris next Tuesday for talks with President Jacques Chirac on a planned aid conference there, his office said. Hariri, who will set off on a Gulf tour on Saturday, would also discuss developments in the Middle East with Chirac. In July, France announced that a "Paris II" aid conference, the second of  its kind to give financial support to Lebanon, would be held. No date has yet been set, but the meeting could take place around mid-November, according to Beirut newspapers.

Hariri is to launch his Gulf tour in Kuwait, followed by Bahrain on Sunday and the United Arab Emirates the next day to discuss their participation in Paris II, while Finance Minister Fouad Siniora travels to Oman. Last Sunday, the prime minister held similar talks in Saudi Arabia with King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah, following meetings with Japanese and Malaysian officials at the start of October.

On February 28, 2001, Chirac hosted Paris I with the World Bank and the European Union to help Lebanon avoid a financial crisis. Lebanon suffers from a public debt of 30 billion dollars, which represents 170 percent of gross domestic product. The budget deficit is equivalent to 22 percent of GDP.

Paris II is expected to be attended by major Gulf states, the European Union and international financial institutions. Lebanon hopes to raise five billion dollars through a combination of grants and soft loans, matching the sum Beirut hopes to realize from a planned privatization programme.

Hairiri held talks last Wednesday with a team of International Monetary Fund experts ahead of the planned conference.

Arab justice ministers gather in Lebanon for 18th conference

BEIRUT, Oct 24 (AFP) - The 18th conference of Arab justice ministers kicked off in Beirut Thursday to study plans for a united Arab anti-terrorism and anti-crime charter as well as raising cooperation between legal systems.

The chair of the previous session, Iraqi minister Munzer Ibrahim al-Shawi, called on the Arabs to "close ranks to face an eventual US attack against Iraq." He also invited the ministers to consider the establishment of an Arab school to train judges "with a common vision".

For his part, the chair of the current session, Lebanese minister Samir Jisr, highlighted the "importance of having a united legal framework to deal with issues of common interest and to fill legal loopholes." Jisr also said it was necessary to help the Palestinians set up a legal institute and establish a "rule of law" in their war scarred territories.

The 13 Arab justice ministers will be meeting behind closed doors until Friday, and are set to discuss consolidating their positions on terrorism, organized crime, and the issue of human cloning.

IMF experts have talks in Lebanon ahead of aid conference

BEIRUT, Oct 23 (AFP) - Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hairiri had talks Wednesday with a team of International Monetary Fund experts ahead of a planned aid conference in Paris, his press office said. Finance Minister Fouad Siniora, Economy Minister Bassel Fleihan and Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh took part in the discussions with the head of the IMF's Middle East section, George Abed and regional director Shakour Shaalan, a statement said.

The participants noted a clear improvement in Lebanon's economic situation, as reflected in the 2003 draft budget, the statement said. The IMF team is to carry out a study on Lebanon for a report to be issued before the Paris II meeting to be held by the end of the year. Salameh said last month that "Lebanon has avoided the crisis that the IMF had been expecting."

On February 28, 2001, French President Jacques Chirac hosted a meeting, dubbed Paris I, with the World Bank and the European Union, to help Lebanon avoid a financial crisis. In July, France announced that a Paris II meeting would be held, but no date has been set for the gathering.

Lebanon suffers from a public debt of 30 billion dollars, which represents 170 percent of gross domestic product. The budget deficit is equivalent to 22 percent of GDP.

Hariri is to resume a tour of Gulf states at the weekend to secure backing for Paris II, visiting Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. On Sunday, he flew to Saudi Arabia where he met King Fahd, Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz and Defence Minister Sultan bin Abdel Aziz.

According to the Hariri-owned Future TV, Saudi leaders said the kingdom would play an active role in the Paris II meeting, which is expected to be attended by major Gulf states, the European Union and international financial institutions.

Lebanon hopes to raise five billion dollars through a combination of grants and soft loans, matching the sum Beirut hopes to realize from a planned privatization programme.

Anti-Syrian opposition in Lebanon calls for demonstration

BEIRUT, Oct 22 (AFP) - The anti-Syrian Christian opposition called Tuesday for a demonstration on October 31 "to defend freedoms" and urged Lebanon's pro-Damascus government to resign.  "We call on the Lebanese people to demonstrate on October 31 to defend freedoms," said a statement by the Qornet Shehwan gathering formed under the umbrella of Maronite Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir.

"We call on the Lebanese government to resign because it did not defend Lebanon's fundamental principles," it said. The call came a day after a Lebanese court rejected an appeal against the government-ordered closure of Christian opposition television station MTV and radio station RML, sparking protests from international media watchdogs.

Lebanese security forces shut down MTV and RML on September 4, armed with an order from the press court. Both stations are owned by Gabriel Murr, who defeated his government-backed niece in a by-election in June. He is accused of violating electoral law and harming relations with Syria, the dominant power in Lebanon.

The channels were seen as the main voice of Lebanese Christians opposed to the influence of Syria, which has more than 20,000 troops deployed in its smaller neighbour, mainly in the eastern Bekaa Valley. The closure of the two stations has been criticised by the United States, France, the European Union and a string of human rights groups.

The Paris-based press watchdog Reporters Without Borders accused Beirut of  withholding the court's appeal decision until after a summit of the 56-nation Francophone organization which closed here Sunday. "Lebanese authorities waited until the end of the Francophone summit to announce this decision and did so despite the importance attached by the heads of state and government in their final declaration to the universal and indivisible nature of all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights," the watchdog charged.

The court's decision clearly represented an "attempt to muzzle the opposition media," said the watchdog's secretary general Robert Menard.

US envoy calls for "peaceful" settlement to Lebanon-Israel water crisis

by Khalil Fleihan

BEIRUT, Oct 22 (AFP) - US Middle East envoy William Burns called here Tuesday for a "fair and peaceful" settlement to the crisis over a Lebanese water project which has angered Israel. "It gave me an opportunity to stress the commitment of the US to a fair and peaceful resolution of the water issue in the south, working closely with the Lebanese government, with Israel, with the United Nations and the European Union," he said after talks with President Emile Lahoud.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, meanwhile, reiterated in a party rally his threats to bombard Israel if it harms the Wazzani water project. "We will retaliate with force against any new Israeli aggression," said Nasrallah whose guerrilla group was instrumental in forcing Israel's May 2000 pullout from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.

On October 16, Lebanon inaugurated a project to exploit the Wazzani border river waters despite threats of war from Israel that brought about a visit by US State Department water expert Charles Lawson. The quantity that Lebanon plans to exploit from the Wazzani -- which indirectly feeds into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main freshwater reservoir -- remains much less than Beirut's share under an unratified 1955 agreement.

Burns said he stressed "the importance to all parties of maintaining a relative quiet along the blue line" drawn up by the United Nations to demarcate the Lebanon-Israel border after the Jewish state ended its occupation.

His talks with Lahoud also tackled US President George W. Bush's views on the crisis over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, he said. "We reviewed ... the president's commitment to trying to achieve a strong new UN resolution, the president's statements that war was not imminent or inevitable, was really the last resort, but that the bottom line remains that  Iraq must comply with its obligations fully," he said.

On the Middle East conflict, Burns said he "stressed here as in my other stops, President Bush's determination to make a reality of the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine." "I reviewed with President Lahoud the efforts within the 'quartet' to develop a practical plan for trying to implement this vision, and I think we are making a significant progress in that direction."

The diplomatic "quartet" of Washington, Moscow, the European Union and United Nations has drawn up a roadmap to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel by the end of 2005. On a stop in Syria earlier Tuesday, Burns condemned a Palestinian suicide attack which killed 14 passengers of an Israeli bus on Monday, noting that the group which claimed it had offices in Damascus.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in turn told Burns that "the United States does not seem able to understand events in the Middle East", official Syrian radio reported. The US assistant secretary of state for the Near East, who is to travel on to Israel and the Palestinian territories, also faced criticism of US policy on Iraq.

"The US administration must act with wisdom because it does not know what will be the repercussions in the Middle East of an attack," said the Syrian president, whose country is the major power-broker in Lebanon. "To plunge into the moving sands of Iraq will be more difficult for the United States than those of Afghanistan. Nobody will be able to stop such a dangerous (attack) nor control its outcome," warned Assad.

Two Lebanese, one Saudi charged with links to al-Qaeda

BEIRUT, Oct 22 (AFP) - A Lebanese military judge has charged two Lebanese and one Saudi with forming a terrorist network linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, judicial sources said Tuesday. Examining magistrate Riad Talih filed the charges against Saudi Ihab Dafaa and Lebanese Mohamad Ramez Sultan and Khaled Omar Minawi, the sources said. The defendants face jail terms of at least seven years if convicted.

Dafaa had arrived here on September 25 and was arrested a few days later together with Sultan, who also has Australian nationality.

The three were accused of trying to form a "multinational terrorist group to commit crimes, harm state authority and carry out terrorist acts." Talih also asked security authorities to investigate the cases of 19 other suspects who are not in custody, the sources said. They come from the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Tunisia, as well as Lebanon.

On October 1, Lebanese authorities announced the arrest of the three men on suspicion of links with al-Qaeda, blamed for the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.