No Cabinet this Week as Suleiman Travels to Rome, Kuwait
President Michel Suleiman travels to Rome on Tuesday to participate in a ceremony that would unveil the St. Maroun Statue at the Vatican, further delaying the formation of the government.
The ceremony will take place at the St. Peter’s square on Wednesday and will be attended by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, Lebanese expatriates and representatives of political parties.
The president will meet with Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday morning, his office said.
Suleiman is scheduled to return to Beirut on Thursday but will make a one-day official visit to Kuwait on Saturday. This means that Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s cabinet will not witness light this week.
Despite pessimism that the government will not be formed anytime soon, this week is decisive for Miqati who will intensify consultations with different parties to overcome obstacles over Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun’s demand to get the interior ministry portfolio.
Suleiman’s visitors told An Nahar that the cabinet formation efforts have hit snags over Aoun’s demand. However, they stressed that the doors were still open for the premier-designate to reach a solution although they ruled out government formation this week.
Suleiman stressed in a statement released by his press office “the importance of dialogue and rejection of violence in resolving problems.”
“Repression makes things worse,” he said about the latest turmoil in Libya.
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