Miqati’s Sources Deny Strained Ties with Bkirki

Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s sources have denied reports about strained relations between the premiership and the seat of the Maronite church in Bkirki.

Ties with Bkirki are very good, the sources told An Nahar daily on Sunday. “Any statement against that is aimed at causing disarray.”

Contacts between the two sides “are ongoing to serve the national interest,” they said.

The denial came a day after An Nahar said Miqati sent his adviser Issa al-Khoury to Bkirki on Friday to ease tensions with Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi over the government’s alleged procrastination in making appointments to positions in state institutions.

Bkirki is seeking to close the gap between President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on the positions reserved for Maronites.

The main bone of contention between them is the post of the head of the Higher Judicial Council.

Suleiman is supporting Judge Alice Shabtini, who now heads the Military Appeals Court, to the post for her seniority and for “having a clean file.” But Aoun is backing Judge Tanios Meshleb to give him enough time to make achievements given that Shabtini has only a year and a few months before she retires.