Hariri, Hizbullah Reportedly Seek Mediation to Resolve Seniority Decree Row
Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hizbullah are reportedly trying to mediate a solution for the crisis that emerged between President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri over the signing of a promotion of a number of officers, media reports said on Wednesday.
Al-Mustaqbal daily quoted ministerial sources who said that “Hariri is trying to coordinate a solution between Aoun and Berri and plans to visit Ain el-Tineh (Berri's residence) this week.”
On the other hand, the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily said “efforts are going in two parallel lines to end the row between the two men. First is the PM's endeavors, and most notably is Hizbullah's intervention although the party had declared earlier that it won't intervene.”
Meanwhile, parliamentary sources told al-Hayat “the atmospheres have started to change to the better after the holidays. We can sense some positivity through the contacts and stances made lately mainly on Hariri's part.”
They added that Hariri and Berri are expected to hold talks in the “coming hours, although the Speaker has not altered his position on the decree granting seniority to officers, but he awaits for new ideas that Hariri may bring on.”
A spat broke out between Aoun and Berri after the president and Hariri signed a decree granting one-year seniority to a number of officers. Berri and Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil have insisted that the decree should have also carried the finance minister's signature.
Aoun and his aides have argued that the decree did not require Khalil's signature because it did not entail any “financial burden,” a point Berri and officials close to him have argued against.
Ain el-Tineh sources have meanwhile warned that the decree would tip sectarian balance in favor of Christians in the army's highest echelons.
The officers in question were undergoing their first year of officer training at the Military Academy when Syrian forces ousted Aoun’s military government from Baabda in 1990. They were suspended by the pro-Damascus authorities until 1993 before they resumed their officer training course as second-year cadets.
Source: Naharnet
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