Gov’t to Meet, Smuggling Weapons Continues
In Lebanon angles got circled and some people's dreams of the government's resignation turn every day into a mirage.
National Dialogue Consultations are to start and language of threatening is absent from the hearing as some people bets on the toppling of the Syrian regime fall into oblivion.
Simply a new equation is settled: Place is only available for the echo of powerful governmental work.
Berri, Mikati: No Reason to Rush STL Funding
Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri advised Tuesday that officials should deal wisely with the funding of the Special Tribunal of Lebanon since the timeframe ends at the beginning of March.
In an interview with "as-Safir" Lebanese daily, Berri stressed that "there's no reason for us to rush with the STL issue.
"Officials should not rush into funding and they have to take their time in deciding on Lebanon's payment of its dues in order to avoid any mistake."
Noting that "the timeframe that was set is just to pressure Lebanon," Berri stressed that "there is no specific timeframe that we should commit to."
"The ex-PM Saad Hariri's government didn't even commit to a specific timeframe to pay Lebanon's dues," House Speaker reminded.
Berri said that "Lebanon has until March 2012 to pay Lebanon's share "and not until the end of November, as some assume."
"We only received a message from the United Nations demanding Lebanon to comment on the increase in the funding percentage due to the variation of the Euro exchange rate," Berri added.
Similarly, Prime Minister Najib Mikati's circles viewed that "repeated leaks about the possibility of his resignation concerning STL funding reflects the desire of some political parties, away from the reality of the ministerial."
"The time has not ended despite all the internal and external noise," sources stressed.
In the same context, "ad-Diyar" reported that "MP Walid Jumblatt promised the resistance not to bring down the government by withdrawing his ministers for any reason."
Gov't Meets Tuesday
Meanwhile, the government is scheduled Tuesday to start a long journey of discussions on the draft electoral law.
Mikati's government has 79 items on its agenda but Interior Minister Marwan Charbel's draft electoral law is likely to put the government in a long and difficult debate.
Despite the pessimistic tone, President Michel Suleiman stressed on Monday that Lebanon should "relinquish the current law which contradicts with democracy."
The government should adopt "a modern law that paves way for the representation of all Lebanese factions on the basis of equality," he said a day before presiding the session at Baabda palace.
Several sources told "al-Akhbar" that PM Mikati communicated over the past few days with MP Walid Jumblatt who opposes the adoption of proportionality in the new electoral law.
"PM reportedly put forth a series of propositions with regard to the new draft electoral law," the paper uncovered.
Ministerial sources expected to "an-Nahar" that "the government is to form a committee headed by Mikati to study the draft law."
"An-Nahar" has also learned that Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour intends to discuss from outside the agenda the promotion of category-two advisers in the diplomatic corps to the rank of ambassadors.
"Mansour believes there is an urgent need to appoint diplomats and make transfers between current ambassadors," the paper clarified.
Chinese Ambassador: against Meddling in Syria
At another level, Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wu Zexian described as "very good trade exchange between the two countries, with the exception of the Lebanon-China trade imbalance."
"Lebanon's exports to China are small compared to China imports," he added.
Regarding the STL, Zexian said that China does not favor resorting to the option of sanctions because such action would not do any good and instead make things complicated and more serious and does not contribute to solving the problem."
"We would like to see that all countries live in peace and quiet and, therefore, we favor a quiet solution that does not cause additional damage," he added.
On Syria, Zexian said that his country believes any solution must be peaceful, adding that "his country is against any foreign meddling that would put pressure on any country and consequently against military intervention in Syria."
At the security level, smuggling of weapons from Lebanon into Syria is still an open issue as more smugglers are arrested.
"Security forces thus arrested Monday M.S.M while attempting to flee the country at Beirut's international airport," "as-Safir" reported
A statement issued by the Lebanese Armed Forces' Orientation Directorate noticeably emphasized the ongoing coordination with Syrian in order to address any security disruption along the border between the two countries.
Source: Lebanese newspapers, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org
