Lebanese fighting dims truce bid
Beirut
Lebanese President Amin Gemayel held apparently inconclusive talks with US envoys, his Cabinet, and his Army chief Monday as constant fighting southeast of the capital dispelled any expectations of a cease-fire.
At three separate meetings Gemayel discussed a Saudi-mediated draft cease-fire accord already approved by Druze Muslim leader Walid Jumblatt, but a Cabinet statement gave no sign that the Lebanese government would also accept it.
The statement said the Lebanese government ''insists on the role of the Army in achieving . . . (Lebanon's) sovereignty and unity.'' Mr. Jumblatt's mainly Druze Progressive Socialist Party has demanded that the Army withdraw from the Shouf mountains, including the town of Souk al Gharb, as a condition to the cease-fire and to starting talks on Lebanon's political future.
After his second meeting with Mr. Gemayel, US envoy Robert McFarlane said he would leave for Saudi Arabia and other Middle East capitals.
Lebanese officials said the draft agreement referred to a cease-fire throughout Lebanon, the return of all civilians ousted from their homes by fighting since the civil war of 1975-76, the future deployment of the Army, and all-party talks for a ''national accord.''
The Red Cross, meanwhile, recovered the body of Canadian television correspondent Clark Todd from the battered town of Kfar Matta Monday. He was the first journalist to be killed in the Lebanese war.