Sfeir voices hope that political crisis will fade away

 

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir voiced hope on Thursday that political instability in Lebanon would  fade away. “We pray and hope that a day will come where the Lebanese society will wake up from the nightmare it is currently living and all matters will be restored to normal,” the patriarch told a delegation from the Auxilia Foundation visiting him in Bkirki. 

 

The Council of Maronite Bishops, following its monthly meeting in Bkirki Wednesday chaired by the patriarch, slammed the delay in electing a new head of state, calling on all  political parties in the country to work together to overcome the obstacles impeding the election of a president.

 

“The intentional slowdown in electing a new Lebanese president after calling lawmakers for a 15th parliamentary session is a matter that triggers surprise and anger at the same time,” the bishops said in a statement.

 

“Electing a president is likely to put the country again on the track of progress and prosperity,” the council added in the statement read out by Monsignor Youssef Tawk.

 

The bishops also criticized the worsening political, social and economic situations wreaking havoc on the country.

 

“As the political and socio-economic situation continues to deteriorate, feuding parties are still executing the projects they have drawn up with the interference of foreign forces,” the council said. “Those projects do not seem to work in favor of the country. They aim to serve the interests of international, regional and factional forces at the expense of the country”s interests,” the bishop”s statement read.

 

The bishops said many Lebanese were expressing their concerns regularly, “with no one answering their complaints.”
 

“Those people include the industrialists who are forced to dismiss their employees and close their businesses, farmers who complain about the absence of protection of their agricultural products and absence of compensation for the losses they incur due to natural disasters, in addition to owners of touristic institutions who are deprived of their source of income, thanks to the political and security conditions in the country,” the council said.

 

Meanwhile, the Higher Shiite Council warned against civil unrest and sectarian violence fueled by what it called “irrational political rhetoric.”

 

In a meeting headed by the council”s vice president, Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, Thursday, the council expressed its support for the Arab initiative as the only feasible solution to the Lebanese crisis which ensures the “no winner, no loser” status for all.

 

Qabalan also appealed to the Lebanese to respect the Constitution and maintain peaceful coexistence and national unity.

 

On behalf of the council, Qabalan said the deployment of American warships off the Lebanese coast was an “unfriendly act” and “a threat to sovereign states recognized by the United Nations.”

 

He also renewed his call for the Lebanese to “stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the face of these fleets” and refuse to allow Lebanon to become a conduit for colonization.

 

Two US warships have taken up position in the Eastern Mediterranean off Lebanon, replacing the USS Cole, a US Navy official said Wednesday.

 

The Cole, an Aegis-class destroyer that was attacked and nearly sunk by suicide bombers in Yemen in 2000, was headed to the Gulf after passing through the Suez Canal, canal authority officials said.