Rivals Meet to Consolidate Cabinet, Aoun and Franjieh Absent
Lebanon's rival leaders met again on Monday at the national dialogue table to consolidate the work of the government three days before it is scheduled to convene.
The 13th session was held in Ain el-Tineh in the absence of Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun who sent his son-in-law Free Patriotic Movement chief Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to represent him.
Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh also failed to attend the talk. MP Youssef Saadeh replaced him instead, saying Franjieh was abroad.
Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat left the talks early, only telling reporters that “dialogue and internal solidarity were very important.”
Speaker Nabih Berri, who chaired the session, is trying to garner the support of the rival factions for a cabinet meeting that is scheduled to be held on Thursday.
The Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) later said that “unproductive dialogue prevailed during the session,” and that MP Farid Makari had left the session without making any statement.
Another session will be held on January 27.
After the meeting, MP Ali Ammar said that discussions focused on “reactivating the government's work and that the dialogue atmospheres were positive,”
On the cabinet session slated for Thursday, Ammar said and that “efforts will seek to facilitate its convention.”
The government last met in December to approve a plan to export Lebanon's waste. But it has failed to hold regular sessions because of a dispute on the decision-making mechanism in the absence of a president and the appointments of security and military officials.
The FPM has linked the fate of the sessions to the discussion of the mechanism and the appointments.
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