Lebanon Christians must seek reconciliation: Geagea
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's rival Christian leaders must take steps toward reconciliation or risk violence among their followers, Christian politician Samir Geagea said on Saturday.
Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces party, said rapprochement with Christian leader Suleiman Franjieh was vital to easing tension in north Lebanon, where two people were killed last month in a gunfight linked to their decades-old rivalry.
"It is very pressing that we rid ourselves of the highly-charged atmosphere in the north," Geagea, a member of Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition, told Reuters in an interview.
Failure to calm tensions could risk a repeat of the September 17 battle between supporters of the Lebanese Forces and Franjieh's pro-Syria Marada group, he said, adding that such clashes were spontaneous rather than organized by either side.
"Neither us nor the Marada have had the intention to let matters slip out of control," he said.
"If this reconciliation does not happen the long history of bloody struggle will remain," he said. "We will be exposed at every occasion to incidents."
Geagea said he had no objection to the participation of Michel Aoun, another of his Christian foes, in a meeting to try to reconcile differences that date back to the 1975-90 civil war. Franjieh had requested Aoun's presence, he said.
"The important point is that the meeting happens and its focus ... is removing the traces of the incidents in the north 30 years ago," said Geagea, who Franjieh holds responsible for a 1978 attack in which his father, mother and sister were killed.
Geagea denies involvement in the Christian militia raid on the Franjieh summer home in the Ehden region of northern Lebanon -- part of a power struggle within the Maronite Christian community at the time.
Christian rivalries have resurfaced as part of a broader power struggle between the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority coalition led by Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri and a pro-Syrian minority alliance headed by Shi'ite group Hezbollah.
The struggle pushed the country to the brink of a new civil war in May before it was defused by a Qatari-brokered deal which led to a national unity government.
But efforts to reconcile the sectarian leaders have stalled. Many observers fear a parliamentary election set for next year could set the stage for more violence among their followers.
Geagea said the relative stability Lebanon has enjoyed since the Doha agreement should last for the foreseeable future.
"It has become clear that nobody has the intention to resort to force and therefore we will continue in this state," he said.
(Writing and additional reporting by Tom Perry; editing by Elizabeth Piper)
