Maarouf Daouk
                 Daily Star correspondent

                 Rafik Hariri leaves for the United States today on a hastily
                 arranged visit designed to pre-empt any Israeli attempt to link its
                 offer for a conditional withdrawal from the south to the extension of
                 Unifil’s mandate, which comes up for renewal at the end of the
                 month.
                 As plans stood late last night, the premier will hold talks with US
                 secretary of state Madeleine Albright tomorrow morning.
                 Arrangements for a meeting  with president Bill Clinton had not yet
                 been finalised.
                 He will be accompanied by minister of state for finance Fouad
                 Siniora and a host of advisers, including Abdel-Latif Chamaa and
                 Nohad Mashnouk.
                 After the Washington stop, Hariri will fly to New York for a meeting
                 on Friday with UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.
                 Hariri will travel to Atlanta at the weekend for a routine medical
                 checkup.
                 Hariri met president Elias Hrawi and speaker Nabih Berri
                 yesterday to brief them on the trip and reiterated Lebanon’s
                 position vis-à-vis Israel’s conditional proposal on implementing
                 Resolution 425, insisting Beirut will accept nothing less than an
                 unconditional withdrawal.
                 The government has faced growing pressure from Israel to provide
                 security guarantees safeguarding Galilee from guerrilla attacks in
                 return for a troop withdrawal from the south.
                 The Israeli initiative was met with a blanket rejection from both
                 Beirut and Damascus.
                 Hariri denied that negotiations concerning the swap of Lebanese
                 detainees with the remains of an Israeli soldier had come to a
                 standstill because of the rivalry between Amal and Hizbullah. “I am
                 personally taking care of the swap and I have informed Berri of
                 what has happened until now. I hope that we will soon reach an
                 agreement”, he said.
                 Last night Hariri met International Committee of the Red Cross
                 delegate Jean-Jacques Fresard, who is mediating the negotiations.
                 The sources said that progress has been achieved and expected
                 an exchange “shortly after the premier returns from the US” early
                 next week.