Phalange: Autonomous Security Has Proven its Failure throughout Lebanon
The Phalange Party noted on Monday that the phenomenon of autonomous security in Lebanon was a failure, demanding that the state's official security forces be allowed to assume their responsibilities throughout Lebanon.
It said in a statement after its weekly politburo meeting: “Autonomous security has proven its failure in Beirut's southern suburbs, the Bekaa city of Baalbek, and all other regions in Lebanon.”
It therefore demanded that all gunmen withdraw from the streets and allow the state's security forces to assume their duties in Lebanon.
These forces should be supported by the political powers and “honest intentions of all parties,” it added.
Hizbullah announced on Sunday that it was handing over to the Lebanese army checkpoints at the entrances and in the center of Baalbek following clashes on Saturday between party supporters and members of the Shiyyah clan that left five people dead.
A Hizbullah source told Agence France Presse that the party is working on handing over other checkpoints, until the military takes control of them all and it becomes responsible for security.
Addressing the sinking of a ferry transporting a number of Lebanese asylum-seekers off the Indonesian coast last week, the Phalange Party said that the tragedy should act as a warning over the negligence in the northern region of Akkar and other impoverished areas.
It therefore called on the political authority to properly assess the accident that “was a product of the Lebanese people's search of lost hope due to the desperate situation in their country.”
“It has become necessary to restore the people's trust in their country. The tragedy of the incident should be enough to spur people to action and facilitate the formation of a government that would be able to follow up on all national, humanitarian, and legal aspects of this case,” stressed the party.
Moreover, it noted that the conference of the International Support Group on Lebanon last week could be a failure in light of the ongoing absence of a capable government that would be able to assume its responsibilities on all levels.
The party therefore called on all local powers to stop counting on foreign developments to ease the formation of a cabinet, saying that they should instead turn to the internal scene and rely on themselves for the sake of Lebanon.
Twenty-eight Lebanese asylum-seekers drowned in a boat sinking off Indonesia on Friday as they sought to sail to Australia.
Many more are still feared missing.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said there were 68 Lebanese, including children, on board the ill-fated vessel and that 18 survived the ordeal while at least 29 were still missing.
Most of them hail from Akkar where thousands of Syrians have sought refuge from the 30-month that has wracked their country.
Media reports said that the asylum-seekers were the victims of people smugglers who prey on them and Syrian refugees seeking to better their lives.
The United Nations gave a grim warning on Wednesday that Lebanon faces an explosion of social tensions unless the international community helps to handle hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.
While in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly last week, President Michel Suleiman told foreign ministers from the world's leading nations that his country faces an "existential crisis" because of the influx fleeing the war between President Bashar Assad and opposition rebels.
He told the International Support Group for Lebanon that major financing was needed to pay for the refugees, reinforce public services because of the burden and bolster the army.
The Syria conflict will cost Lebanon $7.5 billion from 2012 to 2014, according to an estimate given by World Bank President Jim Yong Kim to the meeting held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
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