Aoun 'Won't Reverse' Decree that Sparked Row with Berri
President Michel Aoun will not back down from a controversial decree that has triggered a political confrontation between him and Speaker Nabih Berri, according to Free Patriotic Movement sources.
“The decree has been issued and it cannot be reversed, unless the Shura Council annuls it following an appeal from one of the objecting officers,” the sources told al-Akhbar daily in remarks published Thursday.
Referring to Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil's decision on Wednesday to refrain from signing decrees for the promotion of a number of army officers, the sources described the minister's move as “an attack on the military institution and its sacrifices, especially after the institution's achievements in the fight against terror cells and the liberation of the eastern border region.”
Aoun's adviser Jean Aziz meanwhile reiterated that the controversial decree is “totally legal and does not contradict with any norm, especially with the Taef Accord.”
“President Michel Aoun is fully committed to the Taef Accord,” Aziz told LBCI television.
“More than 60 officer promotion decrees have been issued without the finance minister's signature since the Taef Accord came into effect. Are these decrees considered null and void?” Aziz asked.
The Aoun-Berri spat broke out after the president and Premier Saad Hariri signed a decree granting one-year seniority to a number of officers. Berri and Khalil have insisted that the decree should have also carried the finance minister's signature.
Aoun and his aides have argued that the decree did not require Khalil's signature because it did not entail any “financial burden,” a point Berri and officials close to him have argued against.
Ain el-Tineh sources have meanwhile warned that the decree would tip sectarian balance in favor of Christians in the army's highest echelons.
The officers in question were undergoing their first year of officer training at the Military Academy when Syrian forces ousted Aoun’s military government from Baabda in 1990. They were suspended by the pro-Damascus authorities until 1993 before they resumed their officer training course as second-year cadets.
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