24 July 2008

BEIRUT: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Wednesday that the ministerial statement committee's primary task is to draft a policy platform for the new government, while stressing that the committee, made up of an assortment of ministers from competing political coalitions, is not the "proper forum for a national dialogue."

Berri's comments came after he met with President Michel Sleiman on Wednesday to follow up on the progress of efforts to put together a ministerial statement for the newly-formed national unity cabinet.

The ministerial committee gathered for the sixth time on Wednesday, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at the Grand Serail, in order to continue hammering out a policy platform two weeks after the formation of government.

"The delay in putting out a statement has, until now, been within an acceptable range, especially since governments are legally accorded one month to draft [a platform]," the speaker added. "Nevertheless, any significant further delays may prove unbearable."

Berri attributed the delay to issues related to "the 'resistance' and relations with Syria, rather than problems regarding the betterment of our standard of living, the economic sector and reforms related to the Paris III donor conference."

He stressed that "the delay has little to do with issues related to the lives of citizens in a direct, day-to-day sense, but with the shaping of state authority, the role of the 'resistance' and [relations with] Syria."

Berri emphasized the importance of "decisions revolving around the previous ministerial statement and [UN Security Council] Resolution 1701," which he said made it vital for Lebanese leaders to arrive at a "balance that factors in" the national dialogue of 2006 and the Doha agreement of this year.

"Constructing a national defense strategy is all that remains from the set of issues dealt with during the [dialogue] of 2006," Berri stressed, while turning his attention to the possible agenda of talks between leaders. "This should be the central issue of any upcoming dialogue."

Berri, who leads the Amal party of the March 8 coalition, added that "the resistance is more than willing to become part of a national defense strategy for Lebanon" and "act within that strategy rather than forming its entirety."

He also said that dialogue centering on relations with Syria, "in all honesty depend on resolving the question of Lebanese detainees in missing persons believed to be in Syria, as well as the establishment of formal relations."

In a statement released Wednesday, Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri said that "there should be no major obstacles in drafting the ministerial statement, as many of the points within the platform have been discussed between [Berri] and myself over the past [several] months."

The March 14 leader added that he has no objection to a possible meeting with Hizbullah secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, or to "any steps that may benefit Lebanon."

Later on Wednesday, President Sleiman met with a delegation of family members of Lebanese detainees in Syria, with the delegation briefing the president on activities geared toward the release of those held in Syrian jails.

Sleiman promised to "deal with the matter with the seriousness it requires." The president added that while some issues can be resolved "quickly in conjunction with Syrian officials, other matters can be expected to take time, particularly regarding a cabinet stance on the issue [of detainees]."

On Monday, family members of Lebanese held in Syria held a demonstration near the presidential palace in Baabda as Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem was conducting a formal visit to Lebanon.

The demonstration took a turn for the worse, witnesses told The Daily Star on Monday, as the Lebanese Armed Forces "forcibly and violently" moved protesters out of the road leading to Baabda Palace.

In related news, Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea said on Wednesday that "the

Lebanese people expect Syria to take the issue of Lebanese-Syrian relations" more seriously

in the wake of Syria's recent "isolation within the international community."

"Moallem briefly discussed the past without mentioning the suffering that the Lebanese went through during Syrian occupation," he said, adding that the Syrian minister approached the issue of missing or detained Lebanese in Syria "as if it was the Lebanese Army occupying Syria for 30 years and capriciously kidnapping Syrian citizens."

He added that he believed Moallem's stance on demarcating the Lebanese-Syrian border was unclear and "illogical," particularly Syria's "reluctance with placing the Shebaa Farms under the jurisdiction of the UN" as a precursor to transferring the land to Lebanese control.

Also on Wednesday, Siniora met Sleiman's political adviser Nazem Khoury to discuss the national dialogue sessions likely to be held after the drafting of a ministerial statement. Khoury said the two had "reached a consensus with respect to a mechanism for these talks - the process of establishing this mechanism is under way."