Baabda Conferees: Lebanon Crisis More Dangerous than War

The participants in the Baabda national meeting called for by President Michel Aoun warned that Lebanon's multifaceted crisis is "more dangerous than war."

"A stable security situation is the basis, or rather the prerequisite, of political, economic, social, financial and monetary stability," the meeting's closing statement said.

"Confronting strife and sectarian incitement is a collective responsibility in which all of society's elements and political components must take part," the statement added.

As for the dire economic and financial situations, the statement said Lebanon is going through "a complicated and aggravating political, economic, financial, social and health crisis."

"But it will not defeat the will of the Lebanese and the people will not be the defeated party," the statement added, while describing the crisis as "more dangerous than war."

The conferees added that "a final course for structural reforms in our public finances must be endorsed."

"The program of the International Monetary Fund must be adopted, if we agree to its reform conditions should they not contradict with our interest and sovereignty," they said.

They also called for combating corruption in a serious manner and preserving the rights of bank depositors and "the free economic system that is stipulated by the constitution while making it productive."

The meeting was boycotted by the political opposition parties except for the Progressive Socialist Party and ex-president Michel Suleiman.