Lebanese-Israeli Framework Deal Revives Conflicts over Jurisdiction

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri wears a face shield for meetings at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, August 31, 2020. (Reuters)
Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri wears a face shield for meetings at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, August 31, 2020. (Reuters)
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Lebanese-Israeli Framework Deal Revives Conflicts over Jurisdiction

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri wears a face shield for meetings at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, August 31, 2020. (Reuters)
Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri wears a face shield for meetings at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, August 31, 2020. (Reuters)

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.



Sudanese Political Factions Meet in Cairo with Little Prospect of Peace

People fleeing the town of Singa, the capital of Sudan's southeastern Sennar state, arrive in Gedaref in the east of the war-torn country on July 2, 2024. (AFP)
People fleeing the town of Singa, the capital of Sudan's southeastern Sennar state, arrive in Gedaref in the east of the war-torn country on July 2, 2024. (AFP)
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Sudanese Political Factions Meet in Cairo with Little Prospect of Peace

People fleeing the town of Singa, the capital of Sudan's southeastern Sennar state, arrive in Gedaref in the east of the war-torn country on July 2, 2024. (AFP)
People fleeing the town of Singa, the capital of Sudan's southeastern Sennar state, arrive in Gedaref in the east of the war-torn country on July 2, 2024. (AFP)

Rival Sudanese political factions formally attended reconciliation talks in Cairo on Saturday, the first since a conflict in the country began almost 15 months ago, but admitted there was little prospect of quickly ending the war.

During the conference the Democratic Bloc, which is aligned with the army, refused to hold joint sessions with Taqaddum faction, which it accuses of sympathizing with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Neither the army nor the RSF attended.

The war in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has forced almost 10 million people from their homes, sparked warnings of famine and waves of ethnically-driven violence.

The force this week swept through the state of Sennar, causing new displacement. In response, army head General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said the military would not negotiate with the RSF or its supporters.

"The stark deterioration in the humanitarian situation and the catastrophic consequences of this crisis, call on all of us to work to immediately and sustainably to stop military operations," said newly-appointed Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

Talks in Jeddah between the army and RSF that were sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia broke down at the end of last year.

Taqaddum is a coalition of pro-democracy parties, armed groups, and civil society that has called for an end to the war. The army-aligned Democratic Bloc includes several armed group leaders participating in the fighting.

While Egypt was able to wield its influence to assemble the group, the main attendees were seated at opposite sides of the hall at the conference's opening.

The two political factions agreed only to form a small subcommittee to come up with a final communique calling for an end to the war, which three Democratic Bloc leaders with forces fighting alongside the army did not sign.

"We told them [the Egyptians] not to have high ambitions for this meeting," Finance Minister Jibril Ibrahim told Reuters. He along with Darfur governor Minni Minawi and Sovereign Council deputy Malik Agar did not sign the communique.

"Given the situation on the ground, if we sit and eat and drink and laugh with the people who are allied and partners in the crimes that are happening we would be sending the wrong message to our citizens and to our soldiers," he said.

He added that an end to the war was not realistic without the withdrawal of the RSF from civilian areas, in line with an agreement signed in Jeddah last year.

Former Prime Minister and Taqaddum head Abdalla Hamdok rejected accusations that the coalition was linked to the RSF, saying he awaited the army's agreement to meet.

"A crisis this complicated and deep is not expected to end in one meeting... The lesson is for us to be patient and to build on anything positive that comes out of it," he told Reuters, echoing sentiments from diplomats at the meeting.

US Special Envoy Tom Perriello said he hoped momentum from Saturday's talks would carry on to another meeting called by the African Union next week, another of several overlapping initiatives.