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Beirut: Arab League chief Amr Mousa said on Thursday he was hopeful he could clinch a deal between rival Lebanese leaders to end a political crisis which has left the country with no president since November.
“I’m not desperate. To the contrary, I see an opportunity and my discussions will necessarily lead to something (positive),” Mousa told reporters on the second day of talks in Beirut to push through an Arab plan to end the deadlock.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Syrian-backed Emile Lahoud ended on November 23. The Western-backed majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition have been unable to agree on a deal to elect a successor, though both have backed army chief General Michel Sulaiman to fill the post.
Mousa, who has held talks with leaders from both camps and with religious leaders since his arrival on Wednesday, is racing to clinch a deal before a parliament session set for Saturday.
That session, the 12th attempt to name a head of state, will be delayed again unless Mousa strikes a surprise deal.
Parliament needs a two-thirds quorum to elect the president and the opposition have boycotted several earlier sessions to prevent a vote going ahead.
Mousa failed in two previous attempts to broker an end to Lebanon's worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
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