Defiant Lebanese PM Siniora calls for dialogue

BEIRUT, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Lebanon's Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora urged the Hezbollah-led opposition today to end street protests and return to the negotiating table, vowing that he would not be forced from power.

''The street will not resolve any problem ... there is no other way than to sit down and talk,'' Siniora told cheering supporters at his offices in central Beirut.

Thousands of opposition followers have been camping out near government headquarters since Friday, paralysing the commercial and banking heart of Beirut, to force Siniora's resignation.

The protests have sparked several sectarian clashes between Shi'ite Muslims who back Hezbollah and Siniora's supporters, who are Sunnis, raising fears of large-scale violence in a country that has suffered two civil wars in the last 50 years.

''This thing (protests) doesn't yield results. It digs trenches and does not build a country,'' Siniora said. ''We open our heart and extend our hand and call on everyone to sit around the table to resolve the problems.'' The opposition is demanding the formation of a national unity government and accuses Siniora of failing to stand by pro-Syrian Hezbollah during the war with Israel in the summer.

Siniora allies accuse their opponents of using the protests to try to derail an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which many Lebanese blame on Syria -- a charge Damascus denies.

DEADLOCK Compromises floated by Lebanese politicians and Arab Leagu Seecretary General Amr Moussa have failed to break the deadlock.

Hezbollah and its allies, among them a populist Christian party, want just over one third of all cabinet seats, handing them effective power of veto.

Political sources said Siniora appeared to have accepted a proposal to increase the number of cabinet posts to 30 from 24.

Nine or 10 of these posts would go to the opposition, 19 to the anti-Syrian coalition and one or two to neutral ministers.

The opposition indicated this fell short of their demands.

The ruling majority says it will back a government of national unity, but only as part of a broader deal that would ensure parliament's approval of plans for the Hariri tribunal and early presidential elections.

President Emile Lahoud is a pro-Syrian whose term was extended in 2004 and is due to end in November 2007.

Western and Arab leaders have publicly backed Siniora, with Sunni leaders in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan apparently worried by the growing influence of Shi'ite Iran, which is funding Hezbollah.

Government and opposition supporters have accused each other of fuelling sectarian divisions, and a Shi'ite protester was shot dead on Sunday, a killing Hezbollah loyalists say was the work of ''militias'' loyal to Saad al-Hariri, Rafik's son and head of the anti-Syrian majority.

He has denied the accusation and warned Hezbollah not to turn to its own, well-armed militia in the stand-off.

''If Hezbollah is going to turn its militias against the Lebanese, not only will it lose our support and the support of the Lebanese, but it will ignite internal and sectarian strife,'' Saad al-Hariri told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

REUTERS LL VC1822