Karami Warns National Dialogue will Fail
Former Prime Minister Omar Karami expressed fears on Friday that the National Dialogue between the bickering parties would fail over the conditions set by the March 14 opposition coalition.
“We hope that the national dialogue would succeed but the conditions imposed by some parties push us to believe that the conditions for the success of dialogue haven’t ripened yet,” he said on the 25th assassination anniversary of his brother former Premier Rashid Karami.
President Michel Suleiman set June 11 for the all-party talks at Baabda palace. The March 14 alliance has announced that the dialogue would be useless in the presence of the current cabinet and called for the formation of a neutral salvation government.
But it is yet to announce its final stance on Suleiman’s invitation for the dialogue next month.
On the 2013 parliamentary elections, Karami backed proportionality and rejected any other law similar to the 1960 electoral law. The cabinet has so far failed to adopt a draft-law on proportional representation.
The former premier said Rashid Karami “was an exceptional statesman who was respected by both friends and foes.”
He lamented that “Lebanon is on the way to destruction” and said “the institutions will collapse” and laws are ink on paper.
He advised Lebanese officials to resolve the crises in the country, saying “the policy of distancing Lebanon from the conflict in Syria should not be (an excuse) to escape” from attempts to solve the problems.
On recent criticism of the army following the killing of two Sheikhs at al-Kweikhat army checkpoint in the northern region of Akkar, Karami said: “It is our duty as politicians to be at the forefront of the defense to the army’s role and its unity.”
The former premier also called on the judiciary to reconsider the amnesty law against Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea who was accused of killing Rashid Karami in a bomb blast that targeted his helicopter in 1987.
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