Berri, al-Rahi to Mediate with Aoun, Hariri over 'Two Christian Ministers'

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri will launch his mediation between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Saad Hariri following the latter’s return from the UAE, which is expected within 24 or 48 hours, media reports said.

“Speaker Berri’s drive will be coordinated with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, and they have communicated in order to unify their efforts toward President Aoun and PM-designate Hariri in search of an acceptable solution, especially over the naming of the two Christian ministers on which they are wrangling,” informed sources told al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published Friday.

Hariri for his part has started preparing a 24-minister cabinet line-up, in order to submit it to Aoun should Berri manage to iron out the differences, the daily said.

Sources close to the PM-designate meanwhile told the newspaper that Hariri “will not accept any format that might lead to the cabinet’s paralysis, such as the presence of a wildcard minister or two wildcard ministers, because the wildcard minister experience has proved futile and harmful.”