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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Leb PM designate reiterates determination to form government |
| 2011-04-05 |
| BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati vowed Monday to pursue his efforts to form a new government despite major hurdles blocking the Cabinet’s birth. “I will continue my efforts to form a government that will address the big problems and seek to allay the Lebanese’s concerns,” Mikati said in a speech welcoming the country’s top Christian and Muslim religious leaders, including the newly elected Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, at his residence in the Beirut neighborhood of Verdun. Mikati hosted a luncheon for his guests. Rai visited Mikati as part of his calls on the top Muslim political and religious leaders to thank them for participating in his inauguration mass last month which confirmed him as the new head of the influential Maronite Catholic Church, replacing Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir who has resigned. Mikati stressed that the Lebanese religious authorities have a role to play in “bringing the Lebanese together, cooperating to save Lebanon from the crises it is facing and also in safeguarding internal stability.” “The key to resolve the political crises is by adhering to the implementation of texts and spirit of the Constitution which preserve the positions and role of all the Lebanese groups … No one can eliminate the other or underestimate its effective presence in the country and institutions,” he said. Mikati reiterated commitment to the ruling system based on the 1989 Arab-brokered Taif Accord which ended the 1975-90 Civil War. He warned that any attempt to undermine this ruling formula would bring the country back to “a very difficult stage.” The Christian and Muslim spiritual leaders praised Mikati’s efforts to form the Cabinet and called on all political factions “to facilitate his mission and reduce their conditions and demands in order to help the formation of a government to tackle many thorny issues.” |
| Posted by:Steve White |