A.L. FMs Tackle Lebanon Crisis Next Week,Berri: It is enough that Arab reconcile with each other, for Lebanon to be all

A.L. FMs Tackle Lebanon Crisis Next Week
Berri: It is enough that Arab reconcile with each other, for Lebanon to be all right
Source: Al-Manar, 30-12-2007
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa announced that an urgent meeting for Arab Foreign Ministers would be held during the first week of next January. Moussa added that Lebanon's political crisis would be a top issue beside the course of the Palestinian - "Israeli" talks. The Arab League chief also said that his envoy to Lebanon, Hisham Youssef, would visit Beirut soon and hoped that 2008 would see the Lebanese crisis solved.
For his part Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri told Moussa in a letter that "there is no need to examine the latest developments...it is enough that Arab reconcile with each other, for Lebanon to be all right."
The political crisis in Lebanon has exacerbated after Fouad Saniora's unconstitutional ministerial team ratified 700 decrees thus establishing the fears of the opposition that the ruling bloc is more than willing to monopolize power and keep the country in presidential vacuum under the pretext of amending the constitution.
Berri still insists there is no need to amend the constitution to elect Gen. Michel Suleiman, citing Article 74 of the Lebanese constitution. Saniora accused Berri of seizing power from Parliament after the Speaker decided to postpone Saturday's presidential election session to Jan. 12. According to Berri's statement, this stipulates that "in case of a presidential vacancy... parliament meets immediately to elect a new president, which excludes the (need for) amendment." "Berri gave himself a role not assigned to him by the constitution, and this conduct is tantamount to seizure of parliament powers, and thus leads to toppling of the democratic system," Saniora said. Berri swiftly retorted, accusing Saniora of violating the law. A statement by his office said Berri did not interpret the constitution, "thus he did not seize any power, particularly that of the Parliament." Berri "is simply implementing the provisions of the constitution and the law exactly as Parliament's system empowers the speaker to do under Article 5 ... this Article that had been ignored by the illegitimate cabinet."