Miqati Meets Rifi, Encourages Discussion on Measures for Success of Future Cabinet
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Monday that his resignation opened way for the discussion on the possibility of holding national dialogue and urged officials to discuss ways to provide incentives for the success of the upcoming cabinet.
“The resignation was aimed at creating a positive shock amid the difficult circumstances that the country is going through. And this became clear through the resumption of talk on dialogue,” Miqati told visiting delegations at his hometown of Tripoli in the North.
The decision came after the referral of the wage scale to parliament “to avoid being accused of escaping from my responsibilities,” he said.
After months of deadlock, the government referred on Thursday the wage scale for the public sector to parliament for approval. The procrastination had led to around a month of strike by civil servants and daily protests near state institutions.
Miqati stepped down on Friday amid a political deadlock between the March 8 and 14 alliances and infighting within his own government mainly on the formation of the authority that would oversee the polls and the extension of the tenure of Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi who is about to hit the mandatory retirement age for his rank.
Rifi was among the delegations that visited Miqati in Tripoli on Monday.
Also Monday, Miqati said in a short speech at the House of Art in Tripoli's al-Mina that the new government should be a national salvation cabinet that represents all factions
“The unity of the nation is essential,” he said.
In remarks to As Safir daily, Miqati snapped back at Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on Monday without naming him, saying had foreign diplomats urged him to step down he wouldn't have faced the criticism by some Western states.
“Had my resignation letter been written at embassies as some claimed, it would have been totally rejected,” Miqati told the newspaper.
The sign of such a rejection was the “negative responses that were made by some (capitals in the world) immediately after my resignation,” he said.
On Saturday, Aoun described the motives behind Miqati’s resignation as “silly,” saying one should head to “one of the embassies” in Lebanon to uncover the real purposes of his decision.
In further remarks to al-Liwaa newspaper, Miqati said his experience in the government was “difficult.”
Miqati has been prime minister since June 2011. He was tasked with forming the Hizbullah-led cabinet in January of that year.
Asked if he would want to lead the new government, he said: “I can't yet say that I am a nominee to head the new cabinet because simply I haven't yet made up my mind.”
He told al-Liwaa that he was still evaluating the past stage and would take his decision after that.
25 March 2013, 09:02
68
"Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?" Which embassy do you recommend Monsieur le General? Yalla ya March 8 and 14, if only you put as much effort towards building a secure country as you do into tearing each other down. Alas, since the time of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of present-day Lebanon have been vying against each other for petty power at the behest of and with the backing of foreign interests. Why is it that this land which has yielded great innovators in the fields of philosophy, literature, art, medicine and science, can only produce rubbish to fill the ranks of its political class?
25 March 2013, 18:51
03
Marhaba Benzona. If only we had good strategists like Hamilcar and Hanibaal!
25 March 2013, 22:31
02
Mar7bein. Indeed, the golden era of the "Phoenician" colonies.
BUT, I remember very well from high school that after crossing Iberia, the Gauls, and the alps they were lured into a trap... They told them there was gold in some city and as they reached Italy, they deviated from their path.... Instead of marching on Rome.... They could have crushed them so easily. This is when you realize that Carthaginians had the same mentality as we do nowadays.... Money money money. (or gold gold gold)!
Salut.
25 March 2013, 09:04
68
Does Taqqiya also mean that you can make up stories.
Aoun better wake up and see the truth behind the motive of Nasrallah and the affiliates.
If your not part of the equation your automatically Israeli or close to that.
25 March 2013, 09:36
73
Suleiman should asked someone else to be the interim Prime Minister. It was obvious from Miqati's resignation language that he isn't up to the job.
But that is the problem with this government, indecision, business as usual politics taking care of the "powers that be" while Lebanon suffers.
25 March 2013, 09:57
45
Aoun loves talking--since he is so old, he can be labeled as a rambling deluded old man. No proof, no problem--this is why Aoun should have been a reporter for National Inquirer after he left the country instead of trying to become a so called leader.
He could have reported on alien abductions with the same amount of proof that he is using now.
25 March 2013, 10:16
72
Truth hurts don't it ...
To see Miqati showing his true allegiance ...
25 March 2013, 10:32
23
prove that Aoun's statements are true--he hasn't been showing much of the that truthfulness trait, as if he ever had one, since he left in 1990.
25 March 2013, 10:10
64
WOW !
It is obvious that Naharnet doesn't care about the credibility of their operation when al-kafi can jam their pages with repetitive bombast.
25 March 2013, 10:43
26
you live in Lala land just like your avatar.keep dreaming ,thats the only thing left for you
25 March 2013, 10:45
29
isn't it funny how M8 label anyone that disagree with them a traitor or working for a foreign nation ,when the fact is they are the traitors who work for there masters in Iran in Syria.
25 March 2013, 12:05
27
c'mon stick to your country and change the photo !!!! Our president is Michel Sleimane and not Bashar !!!
25 March 2013, 13:42
23
The new prime minister should represent all Lebanese but since he must a Sunni then he should be approved by most Sunnis, meaning Al Mustaqbal and allies. PERIOD..not the clown nor the rat nor the thief...
25 March 2013, 15:25
24
C'est quoi tout ce rififi? He was a good man but it's legally the time to retire... This applies to all of us when we reach this age.
25 March 2013, 16:23
13
no benzona: the pb with M8 is that they prolong those from their camp and ask those against them to retire... double M8 standards and that is inacceptable plus rifi is a thorn in the foot of hezbis as he stands against them and does not work for them like many others hezb placed to serve them and obey....
25 March 2013, 17:53
13
don t you mix the entire nation with M8 poor little FT.... you are not the nation and very far from it little microbe.
25 March 2013, 22:37
14
Peace, we have to show them we M14 abide by the rules and laws. We don't change them out I'd it suits us.... Like they did for president Lahoud nd many other people.
I like Rifi very much, he isn't on a foreign payroll, that what hezb-Ebola wants him gone. He isn't corrupt.... Not good for them!
26 March 2013, 05:28
00
Actually F.T I thought Miqati did OK job given who his ministers were. Hopefully the new Government is made of less ideological ministers (technocrats is what we need).
26 March 2013, 05:29
00
I already felt that way about him, thanks for sharing the_roar.
