Aoun-Berri Row 'Won't be Resolved before Elections'

An major spat between President Michel Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri over a disputed decree will not be resolved before the May parliamentary elections, a prominent political leader has said.

The talks that were held over the past weeks have led to a conclusion that "there will be no solution for the senioriy decree crisis before the parliamentary elections," a political leader who mediated in the crisis told al-Joumhouria daily in remarks published Wednesday.

He revealed that "this crisis surpasses the declared reasons, something that those involved in it have acknowledged."

"These reasons will become clear during talks to form the new government that will emerge from the elections," the political leader added.

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.