Suleiman in Farewell Speech: Liberation Partial without Complete Sovereignty
President Michel Suleiman stressed on Saturday that it's time to establish a national defense strategy as a natural way to build the nation, warning of the presidential vacuum that threatens the political order in the country.
“On the occasion of the Resistance and Liberation Day I urge the rival parties to establish a defense strategy to build the state and develop the democratic system,” Suleiman said in his farewell speech at the Baabda Palace.
He pointed out that “liberation remains partial if the state's sovereignty wasn't complete.”
Lebanon marks on May 25 the occasion of the Resistance and Liberation day that commemorates the Israeli army’s withdrawal from the south in May 2000.
The outgoing president said at the end of his six-year term that the “Baabda Declaration was praised by the international community as it is the only way to dissociate Lebanon from the neighboring conflicts.”
The Baabda Declaration was approved unanimously during a national dialogue session in June 2012.
It calls for Lebanon to adopt a policy of disassociation from regional developments.
“What brings us together is far more important than what divides us,” Suleiman said in his speech that addressed more than 450 political and diplomatic figures.
He noted that “the rift was caused by foreign interferences.”
“Dialogue is the only way to resolve our dilemmas as we don't live in an isolated canton,” Suleiman added.
“Our national unity is a priority and should prevent us from interfering in our neighboring countries.”
Hizbullah has sent members to Syria to fight alongside troops loyal to President Bashar Assad against rebels seeking to topple him.
Sunni fighters generally from northern Lebanon have also went to the neighboring country to help the rebels.
“At the beginning of my tenure, we carried out diplomatic ties with Syria, which translates the special ties between the two countries,” Suleiman noted, adding that “strengthening ties between Lebanon and Syria requires reconsidering the treaties between the two countries.”
He considered that “the Baabda Declaration guarantees stability and dissociating Lebanon from the negative impact caused by the Syrian conflict.”
The outgoing president hailed the achievements accomplished by the army and security agencies.
Suleiman described the Saudi grant to the army as a “historical” deal that aims at strengthening the chances to build a “capable state.”
In December, the president had revealed that Saudi Arabia has decided to donate three billion dollars with the aim of purchasing French weapons for the Lebanese army as soon as possible.
Concerning the presidential deadlock at the end of his term, Suleiman expressed fear that “vacuum threatens the political order especially, if it was intentional due to divisions or hidden intentions.”
He called on ministers to cooperate with Prime Minister Tammam Salam “until a new head of state is elected.”
“The new president will face the same obstacles, which require resolving the gaps that are obstructing the system.”
The parliament failed anew on Thursday to elect a president in a fifth session of its kind, raising fears that the vacuum in the country's top Christian post would affect Lebanon's power-sharing agreement under which the president should be a Maronite, the premier a Sunni and the speaker a Shiite.
Suleiman called on legislators to “elect a new head of state without any further delay.”
He revealed that he will “ink a decree that calls on the parliament to hold extraordinary sessions to discuss a new electoral law.”
On his message to the parliament, Suleiman said that it “reflects the will of the people,” expressing hope that lawmakers would abide by it.
The Christian parties' plan to boycott legislative sessions comes after parliament failed to elect a new president Thursday in the fifth round of the polls that was seen as a last-ditch effort to pick a new head of state before the expiry of President Michel Suleiman's six-year term on Sunday.
The president's message was a plea to resolve the presidential deadlock.
At the end of his speech, Suleiman thanked those who believed and cooperated with him, calling on the youth to form nonsectarian groups and engage in establishing a civil state.
The country went for months without a president before Suleiman, a former army commander, was elected in 2008.
A two-thirds quorum, or 85 of the legislature's 128 members, is required for an electoral session to elect the president.
The elections are also influenced by international and regional actors backing rival factions, and presidents are elected only after securing the necessary regional support and consensus among the political camps.
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