Berri Seeks to Resolve Military Council Appointments Crisis
Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to hold a meeting with Defense Minister Samir Moqbel this week in a bid to remove the hurdles which have stood in the way of the appointment of top military officials.
According to newspapers published on Monday, Berri told his visitors that he has received the names of two candidates for the military council – a Catholic and an Orthodox.
He said that he did not mind for Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun to name the Shiite officer.
The Free Patriotic Movement, whose founder is Aoun, and Hizbullah boycotted a government session last Thursday over the failure to put the appointment of the three members in the military council on the cabinet's agenda.
The FPM is calling for the appointment of senior military and security officers, especially to fill the vacancies in the military council, as a condition for attending cabinet sessions.
The FPM is also demanding a change in the cabinet's decision-making mechanism in the absence of a president.
Berri told his visitors that he will discuss the issue of the appointments with Moqbel, who is entitled to propose the bill to the cabinet, and the Kataeb Party, which has rejected to politicize the appointments at the six-member military council.
Kataeb Minister Michel Qazzi told An Nahar daily that it is up to the army command to propose the candidates who would fill the vacant posts at the council.
“We reject any political meddling” in the issue, he said.
Such interference “harms the military institution and the officers whose names have been proposed” for the vacant posts, Qazzi added.
G.K.
D.A.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://naharnet.com/stories/en/199669 |