LEBANON:FEUDING LEBANESE leaders signed a deal in Doha yesterday to end an 18-month political stand-off that dragged their long-suffering country to the brink of civil war.
Army commander Gen Michel Suleiman is to be elected president on Sunday, ending a six-month vacuum in the top seat, reserved for Christians under Lebanon's power-sharing system.
"Today, we are opening a new page in Lebanon's history," said Saad al-Hariri, whose Future Movement gunmen were defeated by Hizbullah-led opposition forces who seized west Beirut and parts of Mount Lebanon in clashes that killed at least 67 people. "I know the wounds are deep, but we have no one except each other."
Mr Hariri is a front runner for prime minister.
Also agreed is a national unity government that grants the opposition a third-plus-one of cabinet seats and therefore veto power over strategic government measures. Analysts said Hizbullah had converted its military win to political gain.
Two decisions by the western-backed government of prime minister Fouad al-Seniora, which took aim at Hizbullah's telephone network and an allied airport security chief, prompted the military escalation two weeks ago.
Haggling over seats in Beirut's three electoral districts threatened to scupper the Qatari-brokered deal, as the two sides tried to swing a 2009 parliamentary poll to their advantage a year before it takes place. In the end, they agreed on a 1960 law demanded by the opposition, tweaked for the ruling team.
"In parts of Beirut, you may as well not vote next year," said Karim Makdisi, political science professor at the American University of Beirut. "Now the leaders can get back to dividing the spoils."
Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa said there had been "no victor, no vanquished" - a popular catchphrase at the end of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
But Iranian and Syrian-backed Hizbullah won a greater share in power and effective protection for its "resistance weapons", demands at the heart of its political campaign.
Hours after the signing, the opposition began dismantling a protest camp that has sprawled across two downtown Beirut squares since December 2006, a symbol of deadlock and stagnation.
"We won in July 2006, thank God, and we've won again this May," said Afifa Bahsoun, a middle-aged woman wearing a headscarf, referring to the war between Israel and Hizbullah. "This is a victory for all Lebanon."
Beirutis milled around downtown taking photos. In one café, a group of young women kissed each other three times - Beirut style - and exchanged cries of "mabrouk!" or "congratulations!"