Rival Lebanese leaders to meet soon- Hariri

BEIRUT, Mar 8 (Reuters) Lebanese majority leader Saad al-Hariri said today he would soon meet Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a key opposition leader, to discuss ways to end the country's four-month-old political crisis.

The meeting would be the first such encounter between the two rivals since the crisis started. Hariri leads the Sunni Muslim ''Future'' bloc, of which Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is a member.

Berri, a Shi'ite who leads the Amal Movement, and Shi'ite group Hezbollah have been engaged in a campaign to topple Siniora's government after the premier refused to give the opposition veto power in his cabinet.

''There were formulas on the table. There is a new formula and now I will go and see Speaker Berri,'' Hariri told reporters.

Asked when the meeting would take place, he said: ''Very, very soon.'' In November, all the Shi'ite ministers resigned from the government to protest at Siniora's refusal to meet their demands.

Opposition activists have been camped out near Siniora's headquarters in central Beirut since December 1.

REUTERS SP KN2149