Cabinet Renews Salameh's Mandate, Delays Appointing General Security Chief
The cabinet on Thursday renewed the mandate of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and appointed Maj. Gen. Walid Salman as the new Army Chief of Staff, after the retirement of Maj. Gen. Shawqi al-Masri.
Dr. Antoine Shoqair was also appointed as the director general of the Presidency of the Republic.
Meanwhile, media reports said the cabinet postponed the appointment of a new chief for the General Directorate of General Security.
“The appointment of army intelligence chief Abbas Ibrahim as the new head of General Security has not been included in cabinet’s agenda Thursday,” reported the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat earlier on Thursday.
The necessary conditions to discuss the appointment have not been provided amid reports that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is keen on restoring this position to the Maronite sect.
Ministerial sources told the daily that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun has also echoed this position.
They added that he avoided bringing up this issue after the weekly Change and Reform bloc meeting on Tuesday in order to avert a dispute with Hizbullah and AMAL Movement, which both support the appointment of Ibrahim, a Shiite, to the post.
Sources from Hizbullah and the majority revealed that once the two parties approached Aoun with the suggestion that Ibrahim be appointed as General Security chief, he said that the appropriate circumstances need to be established before the appointment can take place.
The sources added to al-Hayat however that the MP soon settled the matter by proposing the appointment of a Christian as deputy General Security chief.
An Nahar daily reported on Thursday that up until 1998, the position of General Security chief had long been assumed by a Christian figure.
Under former President Emile Lahoud, a Shiite was appointed to the position under the excuse that “no competent person should be overlooked for a position because of their sectarian affiliation.”
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