Berri Insists not to Mediate over ‘Unjustified’ Cabinet Crisis

Speaker Nabih Berri continued on Monday to insist on not mediating in the cabinet crisis, saying Premier Najib Miqati’s decision to suspend government sessions was “unjustified.”

“I hold onto my decision not to act as a mediator on the government crisis because Miqati’s decision on the suspension of sessions is unjustified,” Berri told As Safir daily.

“There is no real problem that calls for interference,” he said in other remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper.

High-ranking political sources said that Berri telephoned Miqati during his visit to Paris and urged him to speed up his return to Lebanon to resolve tension in the northern port city of Tripoli and seek to find ways to resume cabinet sessions.

The telephone conversation is an indication that the speaker began feeling the dangers of the political vacuum, which could push it towards initiating mediation, the sources told al-Akhbar daily.

Miqati returned to Beirut on Sunday afternoon, a day before schedule.

Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas, who is loyal to Miqati, defended on Monday the PM’s decision to suspend cabinet sessions saying “the suspension of government’s meetings are aimed at avoiding bigger crises or preventing the crisis from growing.”

Miqati is convinced that the constitutional work should be rectified, Nahhas told Voice of Lebanon radio station (93.3).

President Michel Suleiman suspended cabinet sessions on Feb. 1 upon the request of the PM after he bickered with ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on candidates for posts in state institutions reserved for Christians.