Efforts are ongoing to resolve the crisis that is threatening the March 8 alliance as AMAL movement leader Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun failed to agree on a solution concerning Electricite du Liban contract workers’ full-time employment.

According to As Safir newspaper published on Tuesday, Hizbullah and Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh are seeking to find consensus among the two parties.

Efforts to resolve the controversial crisis of Electricite du Liban reached a standstill on Tuesday as the contract workers refused to budge on their demands and the company’s board of directors is insisting on its stance.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati entered into negotiations between the rival sides in an attempt to avert a looming electricity crisis in the country.

Electricite du Liban announced on Monday that it will consider the company as “forcibly closed” after contract workers shut the company’s entrances in Mar Mikhael in Beirut.

It warned in a statement that this measure “will lead to a power blackout throughout Lebanon within the next few hours.”

Security reasons have been behind Speaker Nabih Berri’s absence from any public appearance, Ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the daily, security agencies have been able to reveal new data regarding the assassination plot against Berri.

Ties between Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun that deteriorated over the Electricite du Liban’s contract workers row are slowly getting back on track, a ministerial source said Thursday.

The source said a positive sign emerged on Wednesday when MP Simon Abi Ramia, who is a member of Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc, attended the meeting of the parliament’s secretariat and the head of legislative committees headed by Berri.

Electricite du Liban contract workers vowed on Monday to continue their open-ended strike, stressing that they will not leave the company’s premises in Mar Mikhael until all their demands are met.

“We will not squander our rights,” committee of EDL contract workers said in a statement.

The March 8 alliance is still exerting efforts to resolve the quarrel between the Free Patriotic Movement, AMAL and Hizbullah over the full-time employment of Electricite du Liban’s contract workers.

As Safir newspaper reported on Monday that Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, who is the son-in-law of FPM leader MP Michel Aoun, held a meeting with a prominent Hizbullah official to bridge the differences between the two parties.

Efforts exerted by Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh to end a spat between Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri is yielding positive results, the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported on Sunday.

Sources close to Franjieh stressed that the ongoing contacts with Berri and the contacts carried out by Hizbullah have led to consensus over the matter.

Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh is mediating between Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun to bridge their differences, As Safir daily reported on Friday.

The newspaper said that Franjieh visited Berri in Ain el-Tineh on Thursday following talks he held with Aoun in Rabieh.

Speaker Nabih Berri slammed on Thursday the “terrorist” bombing that targeted top Syrian security officials on Wednesday, saying that Syria will overcome its crisis and achieve peace.

He said in a statement: “The terrorist act is no doubt aimed at targeting the Syrian leadership in order to fragment the Syrian army, which acts as a guarantee for the country’s unity.”