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38 of 348 DOCUMENTS United Press International March 9, 1984, Friday, AM cycle

Hotel turned into fortress for Lebanese talks

SECTION: International LENGTH: 395 words DATELINE: LAUSANNE, Switzerland

Police turned the luxurious Hotel Beau Rivage into a fortress Friday with sandbags, barbed wire and anti-sniper screens in preparation for peace talks between Lebanese President Amin Gemayel and rebel leaders. The conference, the second called to end the factional fighting that has engulfed Lebanon since 1975, is to open Monday and will center on new power-sharing arrangements between minority Christians and majority Moslems. Gemayel and leaders of Christian and Moslem factions are to fly into Geneva over the weekend and be driven the 38 miles to Lausanne. Because of the location of the palatial 380-room Beau Rivage - surrounded by a large park that borders the shore of Lake Geneva - authorities ordered stricter security than was enforced at the first talks, in Geneva from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4. Coils of barbed wire were strung throughout the park and police used a giant crane to place three thick metal shields, to block snipers bullets, in front of the hotel entrance and conference room windows. Sandbags were also piled at the entrance and police readied metal crowd control barriers for positioning around the hotel. Officials refused to say how many police officers would guard the hotel. They said the Lebanese government will be billed for the cost. As with the first talks, people entering the hotel must pass through metal detectors and be subjected to body and baggage searches. Police said security measures would also be taken along the highway from the airport. It is the strictest security ever seen in the city of 134,000, where many diplomatic conferences have been conducted in the past. Peace talks between the western allies and Turkey were held in the city from November 1922 to July 24, 1923, when a treaty was signed defining the borders of modern Turkey. In June and July 1932, allied and German diplomats negotiated an end to Germany's World War I reparation payments because of an economic crisis.

Page 2 Hotel turned into fortress for Lebanese talks United Press International March 9, 1984, Friday, AM cycle

Lausanne is normally a quiet resort and convention center known for a soothing climate. Originally a Roman settlement known as Lausonium or Lausonna, residents at various times included writers Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo and Dickens and poets Shelley and Byron. Swiss government spokesmen said it was uncertain how long the talks would last, although Lebanese Embassy officials estimated three or four days. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH Copyright 1984 U.P.I.