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Lebanon: Aoun Says Caretaker Govt Unqualified to Run President’s Tasks

Lebanese President Michel Aoun (AFP)
Lebanese President Michel Aoun (AFP)
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Lebanon: Aoun Says Caretaker Govt Unqualified to Run President’s Tasks

Lebanese President Michel Aoun (AFP)
Lebanese President Michel Aoun (AFP)

Lebanese President Michel Aoun stressed on Wednesday that the current caretaker government is incapable of running the duties of the President if efforts fail to elect a new head of state on time.

The President affirmed that he will leave the Baabda Presidential Palace on October 31 at midnight when his term ends.

“At exactly, 12:00 am on October 31,” Aoun will leave for his home in Mount Lebanon’s Rabieh area, he told media outlets. At that point, he said he hopes to “hand over the (presidential) palace to a new President, if this is not possible, to an authentic government with complete specifications and powers."

In 2016, Aoun was elected President of Lebanon ending a vacuum at the top state post that lasted for 29 months. His term ends on October 31, after six years of rule full of crises.

However, Aoun said the current caretaker government of PM Najib Mikati is not qualified to run the tasks of the President if a new head of state is not formed by then, and that he might have another plan in that case.

“This government is not qualified to take over my powers after the end of my term. I believe it does not have the national legitimacy to replace the president, and therefore unless a president is elected or a government is formed before October 31, and if they insist on embarrassing me, there is a question mark regarding my next step and the decision I will take then,” stated Aoun.

On the delayed formation of the cabinet, Aoun said the obstruction is “deliberate so that the (caretaker) PM and his associates be in control of the country through a caretaker government that does not meet the conditions for replacing the head of state. If such a repulsive situation arises, I will not bow to it and I will face it.”

On June 23, Mikati was tasked to form a new cabinet, but his efforts have failed so far.

The President concluded by expressing “readiness to cooperate in order to form a government as soon as possible,” but also emphasized that he will never accept a government incapable of facing the responsibilities and challenges ahead.

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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”