Mikati at UN lauds 5-nation committee and French initiative

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday told the U.N. General Assembly that he is looking forward for the Lebanese parliament to “play its sovereign role by electing a president in the coming period.”

The new president should be one “around whom the Lebanese would unite and who restore the return of the republic through the presidency and the state institutions,” Mikati added.

In this regard, the premier hailed “the role that the five-nation committee is playing” as well as “the French initiative aimed at helping complete this constitutional juncture.”

As for the Syrian refugee crisis, Mikati warned the international community that “Lebanon will not remain in the eye of the storm alone,” in an apparent reference to a possible Syrian migrant influx from Lebanon to Europe.

“I reiterate the call for devising a roadmap in cooperation with all those concerned in the international community, in order to find sustainable solutions for the Syrian displacement crisis, before its repercussions grow in an uncontrollable manner,” Mikati added.