Saniora Calls for Neutral Salvation Govt. to Ease Tensions
Former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora stated on Friday that the current government paved the way for the recent unrest in the country.
He reiterated his demand for the formation of a “neutral salvation government that would help ease the tensions in Lebanon.”
He made his remarks while offering his condolence in al-Bireh in northern Lebanon over the death of Sheikhs Ahmed Abdul Wahed and Mohammed Merheb.
Saniora continued: “We are demanding that efforts be exerted in order to restore the functioning of the Lebanese state in a manner that would ensure the people’s security throughout the country.”
He renewed his commitment to the Taif Accord and the Lebanese state “that is capable of asserting its authority throughout its territory through its military, constitutional, and security institutions.”
“The army is a central state institution,” stressed the former premier.
“The murder of Abdul Wahed and Merheb targeted the residents of Akkar, the Lebanese people, and their security and unity,” he noted.
“The fact that the crime was committed at a Lebanese army checkpoint does not mean that the army is responsible for the crime,” he added.
He demanded a “swift investigation in the crime and the referral of the case to the Higher Judicial Council.”
Saniora revealed that the Mustaqbal bloc will present a request to form a parliamentary investigation committee in the matter.
“We seek the whole truth in the case and we want the affair to stand as a lesson to those who would stoop so low as to attack the security of the nation,” he stressed.
On Sunday, Abdul Wahed and Merheb were killed at an army checkpoint in Kweikhat in the North as they were heading to a rally staged by Mustaqbal bloc MP Khaled al-Daher in Halba.
The crime sparked outrage in Akkar and armed clashes in Beirut’s Tariq al-Jedideh neighborhood between supporters of the Mustaqbal Movement and Arab Movement Party that left two people dead.
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