Report: FPM to Suspend Participation in Cabinet over Security Appointments Dispute
MP Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement ministers have reportedly decided to suspend their participation over the dispute over security appointments, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anba daily on Sunday.
Sources told the daily that the FPM took this decision after reaching a dead end with the Mustaqbal bloc over security and military appointments.
They predicted that its allies in Hizbullah would back Aoun's move.
This position was relayed to the FPM chief during his recent meeting with Hizbullah leader Sayyd Hassan Nasrallah on April 29.
The cabinet is torn between either extending or appointing new security officials, whose terms are about to end, in light of the inability to reach political consensus or two thirds of the cabinet votes on the issue, and the FPM's adamant stances to appoint new ones.
Media reports had said that Aoun is seeking political consensus over the appointment of his son-in-law Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz as army chief as part of a package for the appointment of other top security officers.
Roukoz's tenure ends in October 2015.
Aoun has denied that he had made such a proposal.
Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji's term ends in September.
M.T.
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