LEBANON: GEN AWN’S BLOC ISSUES STATEMENT ON DEVELOPMENTS
Lebanese National News Agency website, Beirut
21 Aug 06
Text of report headlined: "The Change and Reform Bloc welcomes
the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south; demands reliable
mechanism for monitoring the management of aid and reconstruction;
says past experience not encouraging; the government should prepare
a list of priorities" carried by Lebanese National News Agency website
Beirut, 21 August: The Change and Reform Bloc held its weekly meeting
under Gen Michel Awn at his home in Al-Rabiyah. During the meeting,
the conferees discussed the current situation in the country. After the
meeting, a statement was released and was read by Chamber of Deputies
member Ghassan Mukhaybir. The statement welcomed "the deployment of
the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon, and the preparedness that
certain countries have expressed to participate in the additional
UN Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL. UNIFIL troops are being sent to
Lebanon in implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 to
assist the Lebanese army in extending the government’s authority to
southern Lebanon to defend the land and the people and keep law and
order. The statement said the bloc is in favour of the Armenian stand
opposing participation of Turkish forces in UNIFIL."
The statement questioned the "reason for the absence of any reaction
by the international community to Israel’s breach of the UN resolution,
as Israeli forces carried out a landing operation in the Buday area in
Al-Biqa plain. It also highlighted the absence of any international
reaction to Israel’s continued threats to Lebanon, the blockade of
the Lebanese ports, airports and entry points, and prevention of the
Lebanese army from deploying up to the Blue Line under unacceptable
pretexts and conditions."
The statement also questioned the "seriousness and credibility of
the international community’s support for the Lebanese government,
noting that the Lebanese government has done all it can, dealing,
positively and seriously, with Resolution 1701. In particular,
the Lebanese government has displayed unequivocal commitment to
preventing the firing of rockets at Israel and to keeping law and
order in southern Lebanon and throughout Lebanon."
The statement reasserted the stand of the Change and Reform
Bloc, calling for the "creation of a strong, democratic state that
represents, thoroughly, fairly and even-handedly, the various Lebanese
forces and segments in keeping with the National Accord Document. This
will restore confidence in the state as the sole point of reference
for national decision-making, particularly with regard to peace and
war decisions." The statement said: "All that the Change and Reform
Bloc sees of the current majority are slogans without practice. This
indicates that the current majority has its own concept of a state
based on monopolizing power and bypassing the principle of consensual
democracy and effective participation. This majority also unilaterally
makes decisions, thus breaching the constitution and scuttling national
accord. Lebanon today is in dire need of cementing its domestic unity
to confront the serious forthcoming stage, which requires the creation
of a collective authority that is capable of making major decisions
and implementing them, i.e. peace, war and reconstruction."
With regard to reconstruction, management of the aid and grants,
and the use of foreign support in these fields, the statement said:
"Previous experience was not encouraging; therefore, we demand an
effective, transparent and reliable mechanism for monitoring the use of
aid and preventing exploitation, deviation, sharing, selectivity and
unilateralism." The statement called on the government to "quickly
prepare a list of priorities for the exceptional needs urgently
required at this stage. It called on the Chamber of Deputies to play
its monitoring and legislative role in this respect."
The statement called on the government "to deposit in the Foreign
Ministry or the Chamber of Deputies documents of the official minutes
of all the talks it held with international envoys in and outside
Lebanon, including the visits and consultations that the Lebanese
government’s envoys held in foreign capitals during the Israeli
aggression against Lebanon, in preparation for informing the Lebanese
people on this stage leading to the issuance of Resolution 1701".
The statement called for "forming a parliamentary committee to
interrogate Acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat and Brig-Gen
Adnan Dawud, commander of the security force in the south, over the
ramifications surrounding the Marj Uyun Barracks case".
The statement called on the Lebanese people "to pay no attention to
attempts at intimidation and exaggeration, to which certain people
resort to pit them against one another and foment suspicion among
them". It stressed that Lebanon will rise from this war stronger,
more cohesive and with firmer national unity to build a prosperous,
safe and stable future.
After the meeting, the following question-and-answer session took
place between Deputy Mukhaybir and journalists:
Asked how the Change and Reform Bloc reads the repeated Israeli
threats of a second round of war, Mukhaybir said: "The bloc sees
all these statements as part of the media war being launched by
Israel simultaneously with its military war. At this stage, Lebanon’s
administration and diplomats should respond to the Israel threat with
a united national stand, particularly regarding the deployment of the
Lebanese army in the south and quickly facilitating the deployment of
international forces along with the Lebanese army in the south. We
support this approach, and our stand in this respect was clear in
the statement we released. This is part of the bloc’s response to any
threat. In this fragile stage, we must strengthen Lebanon’s position
leading to the implementation of Resolution 1701."
Asked about the objective of the Bloc’s demand for publishing
the negotiation sessions between the government and international
envoys, Mukhaybir said: "From the standpoint of activating the role
of the chamber of deputies and people’s role in monitoring all that
is taking place, we considered that the political and diplomatic
talks that accompanied the governments diplomatic effort abroad are
important. This is particularly true if the talks are conveyed to the
Foreign Relations Committee in the Chamber of Deputies to enhance the
monitoring role o both the chamber of deputies and the people. This
will also enhance our role as a monitorial opposition bloc at the
Chamber of Deputies. At the same time, we call for cooperation and
unity among all the Lebanese people without a monitoring opposition
role in the creation of democracy."
Asked about the case of Brig-Gen Dawud and the ramifications of this
case, Mukhaybir said: "Even when the interior minister handed the
report on this case to Chamber of Deputies Speaker Nabih Birri, the
interior minister wished that the latter would take the appropriate
measures regarding this case. What we deem appropriate is to explain to
the public the case beyond the text of the report that Speaker Birri
received. We hope that a parliamentary committee will be formed to
follow up the ramifications of this case in order to raise the morale
of the Lebanese army and security forces so that the security forces
will not have to face similar incidents in the future."
Asked if the bloc fears for the Lebanese army in the south, Mukhaybir
said: "We do not fear for the Lebanese army, nor any adverse reaction
from the Lebanese people in the south. There is fear of renewed
Israeli attacks against the Lebanese army and citizens. Along with
others parties, we seek to prevent repetition of similar aggressive
wars in the future. We hope that the latest war will be the last,
so that we can strengthen Lebanon’s independence and the unity of
the Lebanese people."