ANSD : Lebanon: Govt focused on reopening roads before deciding on reshuffle

WED 24 - 4 - 2024

Date: Oct 28, 2019
Source: The Daily Star

Lebanon: Govt focused on reopening roads before deciding on reshuffle

_{Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star}
BEIRUT: Security concerns arising from the 11-day popular uprising against the ruling political elite have overshadowed the drive for a Cabinet reshuffle designed to appease the protesters, who have vowed not to leave the streets before the government’s resignation, official sources said Sunday. Now, attention seemed to be focused on reopening main roads across the country before any possible change in the government.

“There is nothing new concerning a possible Cabinet reshuffle. Priority is now given to reopening the main roads across the country with a view to relieving the people,” an official source told The Daily Star.

“The Lebanese Army has been instructed to reopen the main roads and protect the demonstrators,” the source said.

“You cannot reach a political solution to the crisis, including a change in the government, under an unstable security situation. The opening of roads will prompt banks, schools and universities that have been closed since the uprising began to resume business.”

Banks in Lebanon will remain closed Monday as the nationwide uprising closes roads and paralyzes the country, the Association of Banks in Lebanon said in a statement Sunday.

According to the source, successive security meetings were held at the Defense Ministry in Yarze over the weekend, attended by Army commander Gen. Joseph Aoun and heads of other security services who agreed on a plan to reopen blocked streets without the use of violence against protesters.

The Army has sought to reopen main roads across the country, where banks, schools and universities have been closed for more than a week and businesses paralyzed since unprecedented, massive anti-government street protests erupted on Oct. 17 over worsening economic conditions and corruption.

Tension has mounted in recent days between security forces and protesters, who have blocked roads to press their demands.

In the most serious incident, the Army opened fire Saturday to confront a group of protesters blocking a road in Tripoli’s Beddawi area, wounding several people.

The Army released a statement saying the incident started when several civilians tried to pass through a road that demonstrators had blocked with their car. When “an Army force tried to intervene ... rocks and fireworks were thrown at them,” leading them to “shoot into the air and [fire] rubber bullets.” The statement added that five members of the force were wounded in the clashes. It did not include the number of civilians wounded.

Overall, the unprecedented protest movement has been relatively incident-free, despite tensions with the armed forces and attempts by party loyalists to stage counterdemonstrations.

On the 11th day of the uprising, thousands of protesters stood hand in hand, forming a 170-kilometer “Lebanese human chain” spanning across the country from north to south in a rare show of national unity, to press their demands for the government’s resignation, a complete overhaul of the sectarian-based political system and the return of “looted public money” from politicians.

Blocking main roads and demonstrating in Beirut and other cities, protesters have been demanding the removal of the entire ruling class, which has remained largely entrenched in its positions for nearly three decades.

LBCI TV channel, quoting sources close to Prime Minister Saad Hariri, said that “so far there has been no decision on a Cabinet reshuffle or the government’s resignation before main roads have been reopened, while preserving the protesters’ right to continue demonstrating in public squares.”

“[A power] vacuum is forbidden in this stage because it will lead to security and economic consequences,” LBCI said, quoting the sources.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt reiterated his call for the formation of a new government as the only solution to the impasse that threatens to plunge the country into political and financial turmoil.

“In order to prevent [the country] reaching chaos or [economic] collapse, a new government must be formed, excluding political movements and parties that will give a shock of confidence both internally and externally. The priority [of the new government] is to work [to fix] the financial situation and deal with the [national] debt [estimated at over $85 billion] because in every minute of delay, the loss becomes bigger,” Joumblatt tweeted.

A political adviser to President Michel Aoun ruled out the formation of a new government.

“There is no intention on the part of President Michel Aoun to form a new government. The country is in dire need today for a political government to handle sticky issues which require great efforts to achieve them,” former Minister Pierre Raffoul said in a lecture at the invitation of the Free Patriotic Movement in Melbourne, Australia.

Raffoul, whose remarks were carried by the state-run National News Agency, said the formation of “a government of specialists,” as demanded by the Lebanese Forces and other parties, was “entirely out of the question under these circumstances through which Lebanon is passing.”

The drive for a change in government gained momentum last week after Aoun’s offer to consider a Cabinet reshuffle swiftly gained the support of Hariri and Joumblatt. Aoun’s offer of a review of Cabinet came in a televised speech Thursday to the Lebanese, his first public comment on the street protests.

A government reshuffle was also seen as essential especially after Hariri’s 30-member Cabinet was jolted earlier this month by the resignation of four Lebanese Forces ministers.

Commenting on the sweeping street protests, Pope Francis called for dialogue in Lebanon to resolve the current crisis, urging the country to respect “dignity and freedom.”

“I would like to address a special thought to the dear Lebanese people, in particular to the young who ... have made their cries heard in the face of the social and economic challenges and problems of the country,” Pope Francis said. “I urge everyone to seek the right solutions in the way of dialogue,” he said after the Angelus prayer in Saint Peter’s Square.

He said he hoped that “with the support of the international community, that country may continue to be a space for peaceful coexistence and respect for the dignity and freedom of every person, to benefit of the entire Middle East.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai urged officials to listen to the people’s demands and their uprising “before it’s too late.”

Speaking during Sunday Mass in Bkirki, Rai renewed his call for the formation of a “curtailed and neutral” government.

“Seek what satisfies the people and do not ignore this uprising before it deviates from its course. ... Respond to our people’s needs with an act of love that would free you from the captivity of your benefits,” Rai said, addressing politicians.

“The government did not implement any reform required by the CEDRE conference to benefit from the pledged funds,” Rai said, referring to a conference held last year in Paris where the international community pledged over $11 billion in grants and soft loans to finance key infrastructure projects in Lebanon.

The patriarch said the uprising joined Lebanese people under one flag, and the ruling class “cannot ignore [the people] and must listen to their demands before it’s too late.”

“The demonstrators’ cry has been the same over the past 11 days: The formation of a new curtailed and neutral government comprising people known for their competency that will gain the people’s confidence,” Rai said.

Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh voiced fears that the protest movement might deviate from its objectives to “sow chaos.”

“The protest movement in its first days constituted a real cry and was spontaneous. But what emerged later [from the movement] prompted us to be cautious. There are fears that the movement might deviate from its course to sow chaos,” Frangieh told a group of supporters.

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