Hezbollah official to March 14: Elect Aoun or face indefinite vacuum The Daily Star/ June. 08, 2015 /BEIRU: Lebanon has two choices: Either to accept Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun as president, or deal with an indefinite presidential vacuum, a Hezbollah official said Monday. Speaking from the Bekaa Valley, Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Qassem said that “either FPM chief Michel Aoun is elected as president, or the issue will be delayed indefinitely.” Addressing the March 14 coalition, he said that it was “better to choose Aoun” because he is ready to make commitments, broker agreements and ensure that the Taif agreement, which ended Lebanon’s civil war, is fully implemented. He will also guarantee that the country transitions into a more positive phase characterized by domestic cooperation, Qassem added. “If you choose Aoun, then Lebanon will have a president, and if you don’t choose him, then that means you don’t want a solution,” he concluded. Lawmakers have failed in 24 sessions to elect a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose term ended in May 2014. Lawmakers from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, Hezbollah MPs and their March 8 allies, have thwarted a quorum since April 2014 by boycotting parliamentary sessions, demanding an agreement beforehand with their March 14 rivals over a consensus candidate. The first election in May achieved quorum, but no candidate received enough votes. The failure to pick a successor to Sleiman has plunged the country into a presidential impasse that has paralyzed Parliament.
Aoun’s fight for security appointments ‘legitimate’: Hezbollah MP The Daily Star/June 08, 2015
BEIRUT: Hezbollah MP Nawwaf Musawi Monday said his party stands behind Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun in his “legitimate” battle over key security appointments.
“The FPM was not late in recognizing the rights of the Lebanese political forces in political representation and administrative appointments,” Musawi told a memorial service in the southern town of Bazourieh. “However, there are certain political forces that still practice an undeclared ‘Elimination War’ and does not recognize political representation or the right to administrative appointments,” he added, in reference to Samir Geagea’s Lebanese Forces.
“So it is his [Aoun’s] right to ask why when there are administrative appointments that belongs to any [other] sect, names would be selected in favor of this side or that, but when it comes to appointments belonging to Christians in particular, some would act as if the FPM does not have a strong Christian representation,” Musawi argued. “Why does this continue?” “We are on his side in this political confrontation.” Aoun vowed over the weekend not to back down on his demands, accusing the government of trampling over the rights of Christians by preventing them from choosing new security chiefs.
“Christians today have had their rights stolen from them,” Aoun told a delegation of Baabda residents at his Rabieh residence Saturday. “And our [rivals] refuse to give back what they have taken. So we will confront them and we will not change our convictions for whatever the reason, because this is the final battle.” Addressing supporters in Rabieh Sunday, Aoun did not rule out the possibility of resorting to street protests to press the FPM’s demands. On the other contentious issue of Arsal, Musawi said the “liberation” of the northeastern border town from jihadis should be a priority for the Future Movement.
“We tell the Future Movement that it is in their interest to recover the town of Arsal before any other party, because keeping [Arsal] under takfiri occupation will spark sectarian strife in Lebanon,” Musawi warned. “Therefore, and to ward off strife, the Future Movement has to take the initiative, before any other party, to use its ties with Arab and regional parties that provide support for the takfiri groups in order to withdraw from Arsal.” Musawi said the Future Movement’s political effort coupled with the Lebanese Army’s military power would be able to free Arsal of militants.
Salam, not FPM, chooses Cabinet agenda: telecoms minister The Daily Star/ June. 08, 2015 |
BEIRUT: Telecoms Minister Boutros Harb said Monday he rejected the Free Patriotic Movement’s warnings that it would paralyze Cabinet if it didn’t discuss the issue of appointments. Harb said he was against any paralysis resulting from attempts by political groups to “impose items outside Cabinet’s agenda on the government,” according to a statement released by Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s office after a meeting between the two. The FPM has been accused by its political rivals of seeking to paralyze the government over the issue of security appointments after party ministers said last week they would not allow the Cabinet to discuss any topics or pass any decisions until successors to retiring top security officials are chosen. Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk announced Sunday night that this week’s Cabinet session has been cancelled in light of the crisis.
Harb noted that only the prime minister was authorized with choosing the items on Cabinet’s agenda, saying that respecting the premier’s prerogatives was essential to preserving the stability of the Lebanese system. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt Monday also denounced what he described as an “expected and almost complete paralysis of government.” The PSP chief urged politicians to separate their “narrow political and partisan” interests from national issues that affect all Lebanese.
One of these issues, he said in his weekly column for Al-Anbaa, relates to helping farmers and transporters export their goods after land routes were closed in Syria. He called for “exceptional measures” that would allow the government to subsidize the export of goods, given the importance of the sector to the national economy. Jumblatt’s comments come after Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb, one of two PSP ministers in Cabinet, stormed out of Thursday’s session after ministers postponed discussions on how to help farmers and transporters export their goods by sea.
The minister said that at the beginning of the session, he asked the Cabinet whether a plan he proposed to give cash and logistical assistance to truck owners exporting to the Gulf by sea would be discussed, and was disappointed when his suggestion was ignored. Lebanese exporters were hit hard in April when the Nusra Front and other Islamist groups took over the Nasib crossing between Syria and Jordan. It was the last major crossing controlled by the Syrian government. Jordanian authorities closed the border from their side, and trucks were no longer able to cross in or out. The crossing was considered a gateway for exporters to reach Gulf countries.
