Five Lebanese Shiite ministers quit from gov.
www.chinaview.cn 2006-11-12 04:28:00

    BEIRUT, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- All five Hezbollah and ally Amal ministers resigned from Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora's government, local television stations reported on Saturday.

    The five Shiite ministers include Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, Labor Minister Tarrad Hamadeh, Health Minister Mohammed Jawad Khalifeh, Energy and Water Minister Mohammad Fneich and Agriculture Minister Talal Sahili.

    Their resignation came after the country's top rival leaders failed to reach agreement on the formation of a national unity cabinet, said the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI).

    The move by the pro-Syrian ministers also came two days before a cabinet meeting to endorse the U.N. draft text of the international tribunal to try former PM Rafik Hariri's killers.

    Lebanese all-party national dialogue leaders failed to reach an agreement Saturday and no date for another round of talks was set amid growing tensions.

    "We did not reach a result today and the session was ended without setting a date for a new session," Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, told reporters after a fourth round of talks.

    Anti-Syrian participants also confirmed that the talks had failed.

    Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri did not hold a news conference at the end of the crucial talks like he did in the previous three rounds of talks.

    The round-table talks kicked off on Monday amid an abyss between Hezbollah and the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority who threatened to stage mass protests.

    After the 34-day conflict with Israel, Hezbollah has been accusing Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of failing to back it during the war and of supporting U.S. and Israeli demands for the disarmament of its guerrillas.

    Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned to take to the streets on Nov. 13 if round-table talks failed to meet his demands on the formation of a national unity government.

    The dialogue, launched early March 2006, was last scheduled for July 25. But the outbreak of the Israel-Hezbollah war on July 12 has prevented the resumption of the talks. The hostilities ended on August 14 under a UN-brokered ceasefire.

Editor: Luan Shanglin
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