Sfeir Heads to Rome, Says Crisis Would Drag if there is No Goodwill
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir predicted that the cabinet crisis would last long and snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun saying each person is free to express his opinion.
"The cabinet crisis would last long if there is no goodwill to save the country," Sfeir said at Beirut airport before traveling to Rome Thursday morning. "We don”t object to the formula (15-10-5). What we want is a government that runs the people”s affairs."
He reiterated that public opinion was against giving cabinet seats to people who had lost the parliamentary elections.
About Aoun”s statement that the Americans had told him about their intention to naturalize Palestinians, Sfeir told reporters: "I don”t know about that issue. Maybe he knows better than me."
He stressed that Bkirki was playing a role in defusing the crisis in the country. "Each one of us sees that the country is not going in the direction that the Lebanese want it to go."