As-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Saturday that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt refused to meet Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun at the seat of the Maronite Archbishop in Beirut, despite a request from Aoun. Jumblatt declined the request out of respect for Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, the newspaper reported.

The daily stated that Jumblatt instead suggested holding the meeting in the parliament building or at Baabda under the sponsorship of President Michel Sleiman. Aoun rejected these suggestions and “insisted” on meeting Jumblatt in a Maronite church in the Chouf district, the report said.

Public Works and Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said that the date and location of the Jumblatt-Aoun meeting are still under negotiation.

-NOW Staff