WASHINGTON -- President Amin Gemayel of Lebanon will meet with President Reagan later this month on a visit to the United States that will underscore the U.S. commitment to his war-torn country, it was announced Saturday.
The new Lebanese president will confer with Reagan at the White House Oct. 19 during an 'official working visit,' officials in Beirut and Washington said. It will be their first meeting.
Before coming to Washington, Gemayel will have an audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, meet with French President Francois Mitterrand in Paris and address the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
On his election Sept. 21, Gemayel stated policy goals shared by Reagan -- the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon and rebuilding of the Lebanese army so it can maintain internal security and ensure that Lebanon is not used as a base of attack on Israel or Syria.
Reagan has said the 1,200 U.S. Marines he deployed in Beirut Wednesday will remain until the Gemayel government believes it can exercise its sovereignity. He expressed confidence that Israeli, Syrian and remaining Palestinian forces will pull out of Lebanon before the U.S. troops leave.
In visiting Reagan, Gemayel will pursue another policy goal -- 'to establish the strongest bond between Lebanon and the United States.'
Gemayel is expected to seek and to receive promises of substantial American aid to rebuild Lebanon, which has been torn by civil war since 1975.
'The president is determined to assist Lebanon in the arduous process of rebuilding and reconciliation,' the State Department said in congratulating Gemayel on his election.
Gemayel, 40, a Maronite Christian and lawyer, was a member of Lebanon's parliament for 10 years before the parliament elected him president. He replaced his younger brother Beshir, named president Aug. 23 during the Israeli siege of Beirut but assassinated Sept. 14 in a bomb blast at the headquarters of his Phalange party before taking office.
The new president has denied reports that right-wing Phalangists took part in the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees in west Beirut last month.
Gemayel faces major problems in restoring the central authority of the Lebanese government in a country divided for generations by differences between the Christian and Moslem populations.
The leftist and Phlange militias are the strongest domestic military powers in Lebanon must be controlled if the army is to regain its authority.
Palestine Liberation Organization and Syrian forces remain in the strategic Bekaa Valley and Israel has said it intends to keep its troops in Lebanon until they are withdrawn.
