Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 4, 1990 TAG: 9003042023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: BEIRUT, LEBANON LENGTH: Medium
Beirut's leading daily newspaper, An Nahar, said the army command under Aoun was seriously considering handing the presidential palace in the Christian suburb of Baabda to the government of Hrawi.
The diplomats reported France was trying to persuade Aoun, 54, to leave, and had offered to provide him with safe passage to Paris.
A two-day onslaught by army troops to dislodge fighters of the Lebanese Forces militia in East Beirut bogged down Friday, prompting Aoun to call off the offensive and agree to yet another cease-fire, the 16th since the confrontation between Christians broke out Jan. 30.
Shell-shocked men, weeping women and hungry children emerged from bomb shelters Saturday to stock up on food and water, walking in streets strewn with fallen masonry, burned cars and broken water pipes.
In Sin el Fil and Al Mabaa, residential quarters that bore the brunt of the army's offensive, almost every building carried shell scars.
Both districts appeared to be firmly in the hands of militiamen loyal to Samir Geagea.
"Not even the Syrians have done to us what this man has wrought," a middle-aged woman said on a filmed report shown by the militia television station, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp.
The woman, who was not identified, was referring to Aoun and the Syrian bombardment of the Christian sector last summer.
The shelling came after Aoun declared a "war of liberation" to evict 40,000 Syrian soldiers.
Aoun, army commander for five years, has lived and worked in the bunker since President Amin Gemayel named him head of an interim military cabinet 17 months ago.
He has maintained that he is the head of the country's only legitimate government, and he refused to give up the seat of power when Parliament elected Hrawi in November to succeed President Rene Moawad, who was assassinated.
But An Nahar suggested in an article Saturday the mood was changing.
Citing senior politicians, the newspaper said Aoun's military and civilian advisers were seeking a way out of the deadlock, and were proposing that the general hand power to Hrawi.
There was no immediate word on the subject from Aoun, who resumed contacts with mediators between him and Geagea.
by CNB