Listen to the article
A Qatari delegation has reportedly arrived in Lebanon over the weekend in a fresh attempt to iron out tenacious obstacles which have been impeding the election of a new president of the republic for almost seven months.
Led by the special envoy of the Emir of Qatar, Mohamad Bin Atiya al-Khalifa, the Qataris are not carrying any new ideas or plans to break the political deadlock, according to an informed source.
“The Qataris will be indirectly lobbying for the election of Army Commander Gen. Joseph Aoun as a plausible non-partisan candidate. In doing so, they are expressing the implicit American and Saudi choice for a presidential candidate although the latter have repeatedly declared that they don’t want to interfere in the election and would not veto any candidate elected by the Lebanese parliament,” the source told This is Beirut.
He added: “I don’t think the Qatari initiative is serious. It is rather meaningless and bound to fail because none of the parties on both sides of the political spectrum is really in favor of Joseph Aoun.”
Another informed source claimed that the Qataris have nothing new to offer regarding the presidential file nor will they openly endorse any name.
“There is a lot of talk about the Qatari initiative, but no clear or precise ideas have been put forward by the Qatari delegation. The visit is a mere continuation of the previous reconnaissance tour to sound out the positions of the different parties.”
Unlike the French who have been very clear in proposing the election of Hezbollah and Amal Movement-backed candidate Sleiman Frangieh in exchange for naming Nawaf Salam, a figure close to the opposite camp, as prime minister, it is not clear if the Qataris have a potential candidate, other than Joseph Aoun, to put forward.
“Qatari diplomacy is known for being very conservative in the sense that they would not go public about any initiative unless they have guarantees that it would succeed. They simply don’t like to fail,” the source said, adding: “Moreover, the political forces have yet to be informed of any request to schedule a meeting in Doha to end the political stalemate.”
