BEIRUT: Ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri took his initiative to end the presidential stalemate to Paris Thursday, discussing the crisis with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
The meeting is the latest in a series of high-level consultations Hariri has undertaken with local and international actors in a bid to end the two-and-a-half-year-long presidential crisis.
“Hariri explained during the meeting the risks resulting from the continued vacancy in the Lebanese presidency and his efforts to put an end to it,” a statement from Hariri’s office in Beirut said after the talks in the French capital.
Over the last month, Hariri met separately with Aoun, his presidential rival MP Sleiman Frangieh, Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea, MP Walid Jumblatt and Speaker Nabih Berri among others in a bid to end the vacancy in the country’s top office. He also traveled earlier this month to Moscow, where he held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Lebanon has been without a president, the highest Christian post, since the term of former President Michel Sleiman ended in May 2014.
Officially, Hariri, Berri and Jumblatt still back Frangieh, while Hezbollah, Geagea and some independents support Aoun.
The former prime minister also called on France to intervene with friendly nations in order to help Lebanon mitigate the fallout from the Syrian refugee crisis. Ayrault in turn vowed to exert all possible efforts to help Lebanon weather the storm, the statement said.
Meanwhile, Cabinet held a session Thursday, during which ministers agreed to compensate farmers from the northeastern town of Arsal and poultry farmers who lost livestock to bird-flu earlier this year.
The farmers of Arsal will receive $6.6 million for lost earnings due to the instability that is preventing them from harvesting crops near the Syrian border, while chicken farmers will be paid $400,000.
FPM head and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil was again absent, continuing his Cabinet boycott to protest key security appointments. Fellow FPM member Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, however, did attend the meeting.
Following the Cabinet session, the Future Movement bloc convened for its weekly meeting and “condemned, to the furthest extent possible,” a speech by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Wednesday in which he lashed out at Saudi Arabia.
“The Secretary General of Hezbollah’s continued obstruction to the presidential elections and his attacks against Saudi Arabia have again jeopardized the interests of the Lebanese [people],” Future Movement MP Ammar Houri said as he read the bloc’s statement.
During his speech to mark the commemoration of Ashoura, Nasrallah attacked what he described as Saudi Arabia’s aggression in Yemen. The Future Movement is Saudi Arabia’s closest ally in Lebanon, while Hezbollah is aligned with Saudi’s regional rival Iran. “What has become clear as day is that the only way to end the continued obstruction of the electoral process … is through an initiative to elect a president according to the principles of the constitution,” Houri said.
Hezbollah and its allies have consistently denied quorum in parliamentary presidential vote sessions, demanding assurances that Aoun will be selected.
Thursday marked the 26th anniversary of the final chapter of Lebanon’s civil war when the Syrian army stormed the Christian areas and Presidential Palace in Baabda, forcing Aoun – at the time Army commander and prime minister of an all-Christian government – to seek political asylum in France. He only returned to Lebanon after the Syrians withdrew in 2005.
The FPM announced its intention to mark the occasion this coming Sunday with a large march along the road leading to the presidential palace. Aoun is expected to address the crowd.
Bassil and Bou Saab observed the occasion by laying a wreath on a statue commemorating the soldiers who lost their lives in the fighting.
“The memory of Oct. 13 is ingrained in our memory. Some say it was a nightmare for Lebanon, but we still see it as … the rise of a nation,” Bassil said from the Baabda town of Hadath.
Bassil later gave insight into the presidential crisis. “Our strategic objective is to come to an understanding with the Future [Movement], because the country cannot function without its core components,” he said during an interview on Lebanese TV station LBCI.
“Before Hariri visited Aoun there was a series of calls and discussions and their meeting took place in this atmosphere. This means that there is an agreement between us.”
He also claimed that Riyadh was not concerned with the presidential issue. “They have left this for the Lebanese to decide among themselves, but there are some who want to drag them into it.”