BEIRUT: Lebanon’s top Christian cleric took a swipe at leaders of the Muslim community on Sunday for making demands he said were blocking the formation of a new government and causing political paralysis in a nation in deep crisis.
Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al Rai, leader of the Maronite church, did not mention the community directly but asked how one sect can demand “a certain ministry”.
Politicians have said they must name the finance minister. Sunday’s sermon adds to tensions in a nation facing its worst crisis since a civil war ended in 1990 and where power is traditionally shared out between Muslims and Christians. France has been pushing Lebanon to form a new cabinet fast. But a deadline of September 15 that politicians told Paris they would meet has been missed amid a row over appointments, notably the finance minister, a post controlled for years.
Politicians say they must choose some posts because rivals are trying to use “foreign leverage” to push them aside. “In what capacity does a sect demand a certain ministry as if it is its own, and obstruct the formation of the government, until it achieves its goals, and so causes political paralysis?” the patriarch of Lebanon’s biggest Christian community said.
He said the Taif agreement, a pact that ended the 1975-1990 civil war, did not hand specific ministries to specific sects. Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib wants to appoint specialists and shake up the leadership of ministries. The main groups — the Amal Movement and the Hizbullah — want to select the figures to fill several posts, including the finance minister, a vital position as Lebanon navigates through its economic crisis.
A French roadmap for Lebanon includes the swift resumption of talks with the International Monetary Fund, a first step to helping deal with a mountain of debt and fix Lebanon’s broken banking sector. But it first needs a government.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s army said it had found 1.3 tonnes of fireworks during a search of Beirut port, which was devastated last month in a huge blast that was blamed on a large quantity of chemicals kept in poor condition.
The army said in a statement, released on its website that 1,320 kgs of fireworks were found in 120 boxes in a warehouse during a search of the port.
It said army engineers disposed of them. The port and a swathe of central Beirut was ruined by the huge blast on August 4 that killed at least 190 people. It was blamed on 2,750 tonnes of highly explosive ammonium nitrate kept at the port for years in poor condition. Warehouses and concrete grain silos at the port were destroyed.
Lebanon’s army said on September 3 it had also found a further 4.35 tonnes of ammonium nitrate near the entrance to Beirut port, which the army said at the time it was dealing with. — Agencies
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