12 August 2011

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman warned Thursday that Lebanon is facing difficulties and challenges as a result of the current popular upheavals sweeping the Arab world, renewing his call on rival factions for national dialogue which, he said, is the only way for the country’s salvation.

Addressing an iftar banquet he hosted at Baabda Palace on the occasion of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Sleiman said his consultations in the past two weeks with leaders from the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance and the opposition March 14 coalition to resume the stalled national dialogue showed that more discussion was needed before a new round of talks could be held. Sleiman’s remarks reflected continued differences between the March 8 and March 14 parties over what topics to discuss at the proposed dialogue.

“Looming on the horizon are difficulties and challenges for which the country cannot surrender, nor leave the means to overcome them to what the volatile balance of power could lead to,” he said in his speech, which was aired on television live Thursday night.

“In plain words, the developments in our Arab world and their potential repercussions on Lebanon, should they turn to further violence and fragmentation; the controversy accompanying the course of the STL, and what it might entail; and attempts to enflame fanaticism and sow, in our midst and around us, seeds of strife, all raise deep concerns among the citizens as to their security and safety and cause economic and social shrinkage,” he said.

“We are thus called upon to be fully aware of the gravity of this period and to ward off the dangers threatening the country and its civil peace,” Sleiman added.

The iftar was attended by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the country’s top Muslim and Christian religious leaders, Kataeb (Phalange) Party leader Amin Gemayel, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, ministers, lawmakers and Arab and foreign ambassadors. However, there were two major absentees: Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt. No reason was given for their no-show.

Sleiman said the stances and consultations he has so far held with leaders from the two rival factions have underlined the need for further discussion and follow-up. He stressed that there is no alternative to dialogue to save the country.

Sleiman, voicing concern over deep political divisions between rival factions, issued his call for national dialogue on July 16.

Both sides have apparently set conditions for attending the proposed dialogue. While Berri and Mikati have generally endorsed Sleiman’s call for national dialogue, Hezbollah has declared that its arms will not be the topic of any dialogue and is ready to discuss a national defense strategy to protect Lebanon against a possible Israeli attack.

March 14 leaders, including former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, leader of the Future Movement, have voiced skepticism about the proposed dialogue, insisting that Hezbollah’s arms should be the only topic for discussion, or else they will not attend.

The last session of dialogue was held in November last year and was boycotted by most March 8 leaders amid mounting divisions between the March 8 and March 14 coalitions over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The dispute led eventually to the collapse of Hariri’s Cabinet on Jan. 12.

In his speech, Sleiman said: “Calling for dialogue does not aim to improve one party’s conditions against another party, neither to give the upper hand to one logic over the other. It rather seeks the means to resolve outstanding controversial issues and explore potential solutions for future problems before the latter build up and exacerbate.”

He said despite the difficulties facing the dialogue, he will pursue his efforts to ensure the elements of its success.

“I have considered that engaging in dialogue is an act of national free will and faith, and not a negotiation process,” Sleiman said. “Therefore, no matter the difficulties that face the process of refining the appropriate frameworks to relaunch the national dialogue I am striving for, I still see no alternative to it and no salvation without it.”

He said Lebanon should adapt to the possible positive repercussions of the current developments in the Arab world.

“And if indeed the Arab countries advance toward democracy, officials, intellectuals and public opinion leaders will have to re-examine Lebanon’s position and role in this field and study means to improve its democracy consecrated by the Lebanese Constitution since 1926, a democracy that has since that time been marred by some bad practice and poor performance,” Sleiman said.

“In order to improve our democracy, we will have to agree on a new electoral law that would best embody people’s opinion, equilibriums and aspirations. This law should also take into account rules that guarantee equal power sharing and coexistence among the Lebanese while ensuring the right political representation of the various categories of the population along with its effectiveness,” he added.

A few hours before the iftar, Sleiman chaired a Cabinet meeting at Baabda Palace which approved from a decision outside the agenda to begin measures aimed at implementing a Cabinet decision in November 2008 to establish diplomatic relations with the state of Palestine.

Among other items on the Cabinet’s agenda approved by the ministers were the signing of a cooperation agreement to fight drugs between Lebanon and Syria, the extension of a memorandum of understanding between Lebanon and Spain to implement a project to fight forest fires in Lebanon, and fixing an incentive price for the purchase of local wheat and barley.

The Cabinet was called to meet at the Grand Serail on Thursday, Aug. 18.

Addressing the Cabinet meeting, Sleiman voiced fears that the current popular upheavals in the region would impact the internal security situation in Lebanon. Therefore, he called the Higher Defense Council to meet Friday to take appropriate measures in line with the Cabinet’s policy to defend and maintain security, according to a statement read to reporters by Information Minister Walid Daouk after the meeting.

Sleiman called on the government to deal with the socio-economic crisis, taking the public interest into account away from political polarization between the rival factions.

Copyright The Daily Star 2011.