A statement issued by Lebanese President Michel Aoun on the formation of a delegation to negotiate the demarcation of the maritime borders with Israel through US mediation has revived a conflict over jurisdiction between the country’s institutions.
On Thursday, the Presidency Information Office said that Aoun welcomed the announcement by US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, that a framework agreement had been reached to negotiate the demarcation of borders under the auspices of the United Nations and through facilitated mediation by the United States.
It added that Aoun “will undertake negotiations in accordance with the provisions of Article 52 of the Constitution, starting with the formation of the Lebanese negotiating delegation… hoping that the American side will maintain an honest mediation.”
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has worked on this file since 2010, after he was chosen by successive presidents and prime ministers to assume this role, with the agreement of Lebanon’s various political forces.
The Presidency’s statement came after Berri announced that the Lebanese army would take over the negotiations at the UN headquarters in southern Lebanon and that his role in this file had consequently ended.
Referring to accusations that he was taking over presidential powers, Berri said on Thursday: “I am the last to consider violating the constitution. The framework agreement that has been reached is only a framework that paves the way forward.”
Article 52 stipulates that the President of the Republic undertakes the negotiation and conclusion of international treaties, with the agreement of the prime minister. Treaties become valid and enforceable only after the approval of the Council of Ministers.
“The US is aware that the governments of Lebanon and Israel are ready to demarcate their maritime borders based on the tripartite agreements of April 1996 and currently under Resolution 1701,” Berri explained.
He also said that the US had been asked to play the role of a “mediator” in the maritime demarcation process and was ready to do so.
Head of the Free Patriotic Movement and Aoun’s son-in-law, MP Gebran Bassil, had implicitly criticized Berri’s dealing with the demarcation file.
“This time, we have to negotiate, not with the Persian way or the Arab way; rather, in our Lebanese way, with both rigidity and flexibility...” Bassil said in a tweet.
