Chronology

1998

1. January
2. February
3. June
4. July
5. August
6. October
7. November
8. December

1. March 1998

   • 6 Mar 98:
     As the government has failed to effect a complete return for the displaced, all wealthy people and organizations should lend financial and moral help to the cause, vice-president of the higher Shiite council abdel-Amir Qabalan suggested.

   • 8 Mar 98:
     After meeting Maronite patriarch cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir at Bkirki, Qabalan said the proposal, which he called "twinning between the rich and the poor", should be adopted by all the country's religious leaders.
     "We have asked the patriarch to call on the charity and humanitarian associations such as caritas to discuss the return of the displaced, especially as the government has to fulfil its promise," he said.
     "All political and financial resources should be mobilized and the proposal adopted by Bkirki, Dar al-Fatwa, the higher Shiite council and the Druze leadership," he said.

   • 9 Mar 98:
     Qabalan said help for the return of the displaced from the well-off, clubs and anyone else was welcome.
     He called for "a popular plan of action" for the return of the displaced to their villages and homes, with statistics on their number made available.

   • 12 Mar 98:
     An estimated 70,000 families have been categorized as displaced and wishing to return, with about 30% having so far done so.
     "After we felt the government was unable to fulfil its pledges, we consider a national shrine and not only a Maronite one." he said.
     Qabalan said the timing of his proposal was due in particular to patriarch's meeting today with prime minister Rafik Hariri followed by a trip to the Vatican, where he will meet pope John Paul II, which would help highlight the issue.
     Qabalan said he would convey the proposal to other religious leaders for their cooperation.

   • 15 Mar 98:
     Jumblatt hosts Phalange leaders at headquarters.
     A ground-breaking visit by a Phalange party delegation to the Progressive Socialist party headquarters should show that the new-fond Christian-Druze alliance has permanence, according to the heads of the two groups.

   • 17 Mar 98:
     At a joint news conference, PSP (Progressive Socialist Party) president Walid Jumblatt said the visit, part of the first dialogue between the two parties since they were established in 1955, "should work to eliminate the rumors that requirements of the moment" were responsible for his recent alliance-building with the national Liberal and phalange parties.
     Jumblatt, minister Akram Chehayeb and PSP vice president Dureid Yaghi received the seven-man phalange delegation at the bottom of the Wata Museitbeh building that houses party headquarters, and accompanied them upstairs, where they held a 90-minute meeting behind closed doors.

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