Sfeir lashes out at leaders” “negligence” in deadlock

 

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir denounced on Sunday the “negligent” attitude of Lebanese politicians toward the country”s 15-month-old political logjam.

 

“Leaders are relying any excuse to keep the country in its actual deteriorating situation” Sfeir said during his Sunday sermon at the Notre Dame Church in Bkirki.

 

He stressed the importance of fulfilling citizens” growing needs, since no “honorable Lebanese” can accept seeing his country fall apart as it is, adding that the Lebanese should work “hand in hand in order to restore Lebanon”s historical position among nations.”

 

Following the Mass, Sfeir met with an array of social and political figures. The prelate also received the vice president of the Lebanese Forces, MP Georges Adwan, with whom he discussed current developments on the Lebanese political scene as well as the presidential vacuum.

 

“Despite all the efforts to avoid it, the presidential vacuum turned Lebanon into an arena open to everyone but the Lebanese and to all kinds of conflicts and tensions” Adwan told reporters following the meeting.

 

The MP insisted on the importance of saving the country from the “greedy interests of foreign powers” by electing a president who would bring all the Lebanese together.

 

He also denounced those who want to keep Lebanon in a “paralyzed” situation by showing no will to elect a president and accused them of increasing their demands and conditions in order to “weaken the president”s role before his election.”

 

As for those who “truly” want to solve the crisis, Adwan urged them to resort to Parliament “as soon as possible and hold a vote.”
 

When asked about the conflict on the electoral law, Adwan said that the ruling coalition refused both the 1960 and 2000 laws and were trying to find a fair solution that will benefit all the Lebanese “especially the Christians, who are not well represented at all.”

 

Adwan said the government has been trying to help the country recover economically for three years, however, every attempt was answered by a “slap.”

 

“Now, the crisis has hit what”s left of the tourism in Lebanon,” he added. Adwan blamed the weakening of the sector of tourism in Lebanon opposition”s camp that has been going on for more than a year now in Downtown Beirut.

 

About US warship deployment in Lebanese waters, Adwan said that this would become a “matter of importance if it interfered with Lebanon”s sovereignty and independence,” describing it as yet another attempt to turn Lebanon into an “international arena.”

 

The United States said on Thursday it had sent the USS Cole, a guided-missile destroyer, to the waters off Lebanon.

 

The Cole was the target of a bombing by Al-Qaeda extremists in October 2000 in the Yemeni port of Aden that killed 17 US sailors.

 

It is “a show of support for regional stability” because of “concern about the situation in Lebanon,” a US official said on condition of anonymity, declining to say that the show of force was meant for Syria or Iran.