Mustaqbal Says Hariri Unconcerned with Reports on Aoun-Berri Mediation

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc announced Tuesday that Prime Minister Saad Hariri is not concerned with media reports about “mediations, meetings or suggestions” regarding the ongoing spat between President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri.

“The bloc discussed the row resulting from the decree pertaining to the officers who graduated in 1994 as well as the ongoing contacts and consultations that are aimed at halting political bickering over it,” Mustaqbal said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting.

“PM Saad Hariri stressed to the bloc that he is performing his role and responsibilities in this regard in line with the Constitution and the norms, and that he is not concerned with any media reports about certain mediations, meetings or suggestions,” the bloc added.

Turning to the issue of the upcoming parliamentary elections, Mustaqbal said “nominations and electoral alliances are being carefully mulled” and that “any talk of four-, five- or six-party alliances is aimed at distortion.”

The Aoun-Berri spat broke out after the president and the premier 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.