Al-Rahi Warns of 'Sectarian Conflicts' that May 'Further Obstruct Govt.'
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday warned that “the political crisis is paralyzing the state's cycle in Lebanon and causing a stifling economic, financial and social crisis.”
“The dark consciences that are confined to personal, partisan and sectarian interests and foreign loyalties are behind this crisis,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon.
“Everyone is practicing this at the expense of the rise of the state of law and institutions, which is manifested in the failure to form a government five full months after designation and six months from the parliamentary elections,” the patriarch lamented.
“On top of this, beware of the sectarian rifts and conflicts which some may seek to stoke and which would further obstruct the formation of the government,” al-Rahi went on to say.
The new cabinet was on the verge of formation last Monday after the Lebanese Forces accepted the portfolios that were assigned to it but a last-minute hurdle over the representation of pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs surfaced.
Hizbullah has backed the MPs' demand and refrained from providing Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri with the names of its own ministers in a bid to press him to accept giving a seat to the aforementioned Sunni grouping.
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