Berri Urges Activating Govt., Warns of Failure to Resume Dialogue Sessions
Speaker Nabih Berri warned Wednesday that the region is facing “dangerous challenges,” calling on Lebanese parties to immunize the country and activate the work of the paralyzed cabinet.
“Amid the dangerous challenges that the region is witnessing, we must all seek to fortify our domestic stability and immunize our country,” said Berri during his weekly meeting with MPs in Ain al-Tineh.
“There is a pressing need to revitalize our institutions in order to address people's affairs,” the speaker said.
Turning to the issue of the presidential vacuum that has been running since May 2014, Berri stressed there is a need to “activate the work of the government, even if a president will be hypothetically elected in, let's say, 15 days.”
“This election is now frozen” in light of the latest developments, Berri added.
Commenting on Saudi Arabia's controversial execution of top Shiite dissident Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the speaker said he was “shocked” by the move, noting that it has triggered “profound political repercussions inside the kingdom and at the Lebanese, Arab, regional and Islamic levels.”
In remarks published Wednesday in An Nahar daily, Berri had highlighted the importance of holding the national dialogue session next week, as well as the talks between Mustaqbal and Hizbullah, given the tensions in the region.
He said according to his visitors: “Failure to hold any of the talks will negatively impact Lebanon.”
“We should keep Lebanon away from strife,” he stressed.
“Previously we strove to elect a president, but now our main concern has become the holding of dialogue sessions,” lamented the speaker.
He stressed that he “will exert all efforts” to reactivate the cabinet “because it is no longer acceptable to idly stand by and watch the failure to elect a president and hold government and parliament meetings.”
“The state is under threat,” he warned.
The next round of the national dialogue is set for Monday, as is the next round of Mustaqbal-Hizbullah talks.
Efforts to resolve the vacuum in the presidency have reached a standstill given the flare up of regional tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, reported As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.
March 8 camp sources told the daily: “Contacts, most notably those on the presidency, are frozen until a breakthrough is reached between Riyadh and Tehran.
“This deadlock will affect all other files, except the cabinet, which is awaiting serious efforts over the need to revitalize it,” they remarked.
The Saudi-Iranian row has also sparked a war of words between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement.
On Monday, Hizbullah top lawmaker Mohammed Raad waged a blistering attack on Mustaqbal leader ex-PM Saad Hariri without naming him while also firing at the former premier's presidential initiative that involves nominating Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency.
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