Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star
BEIRUT: MP Michel Aoun said Tuesday his two ministers would not return to the Cabinet until a new Army commander and a new military council are appointed, in a tough stance likely to throw the already divided government into further disarray.
The leader of the Free Patriotic Movement also said he has the right to name a new Army commander because he heads the largest Christian bloc in Parliament.
“We will not return to the Cabinet before the appointment of a new Army commander and a new military council. We represent the Christian majority and we have the right to name an Army commander,” Aoun said in an interview with OTV, which is affiliated with the FPM.
He insisted that the military appointments and the naming of a new Army commander are essential for the FPM’s two ministers to attend Cabinet sessions.
Declaring that the extension of Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi’s term twice is illegitimate, Aoun said: “There is a big rift today [with the Future Movement and its March 14 allies] which might lead to a confrontation.”
The Cabinet has not met since Sept. 3 due to differences among ministers over the contentious issues of military promotions and the government’s decision-making system.
The FPM’s two ministers, backed by Hezbollah, boycotted a Cabinet session last month to press their demands for the promotion of senior Army officers, including Brig. Gen. Shamel Roukoz, Aoun’s son-in-law, to the rank of major general. Rival political leaders, meeting in a national dialogue session last week, failed to resolve the issue of military promotions, viewed as essential for the resumption of Parliament and Cabinet sessions.
Aoun’s remarks came two days after he wrecked chances of ending the 16-month presidential deadlock soon by strongly rejecting the election of a neutral or consensual president, and implicitly sticking to his unyielding stance on the deadlock: “Either me, or no one else.”
In the OTV interview, Aoun, who is bidding for the presidency, refused to budge on this issue. “I am not ready to bargain over the presidency issue.”
The Future Movement and its March 14 allies, who oppose Aoun’s presidential bid, have proposed an agreement with their March 8 rivals on a consensus candidate as the only solution to ending a political stalemate that has paralyzed Parliament and crippled the government.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam is still undecided on whether to call for a Cabinet session this week to discuss the nearly three-month trash crisis in the absence of a political settlement. Aoun said his ministers would not attend a Cabinet session on the trash crisis, but they would not obstruct it. “We will not stand in the way, nor will we participate in any Cabinet session to discuss the trash issue, even though the government does not need to meet to end this crisis, the minister has the powers to do it himself.”
Aoun lashed out at Defense Minister Samir Moqbel for extending the terms of top Army brass, including Kahwagi’s term.
“I don’t know who was behind Samir Moqbel’s decision to extend Kahwagi’s term,” Aoun said, in a likely reference to former President Michel Sleiman. Moqbel is one of three ministers who are loyal to Sleiman.
“The Army Command is illegitimate and the [Internal] Security Forces Command is illegitimate. The country is falling apart. Each minister has seized the Cabinet’s prerogatives,” he said.
Aoun blamed Sleiman and Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel for derailing a deal on the military promotions “because of their foreign links.”
Aoun has been lobbying for Roukoz, the head of the Army Commando Regiment who is due to retire on Oct. 15, to be appointed Army commander.
“Roukoz ended the battle in Abra in 2013, he ended the battle in Arsal last year, he brought back stability to Akkar,” Aoun said.
Aoun also reiterated that he viewed Parliament as illegitimate since it had twice voted to extend its own term, effectively canceling the 2013 elections.
“We will not allow our rivals to step on our rights and violate the Constitution anymore. … The rift between us is wide as it is, we can’t allow the crisis to grow even more,” he said.
Aoun, who handed down the party’s leadership to another son-in-law, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, last month, said the FPM’s relations with the Future Movement were bad. He claimed that the FPM’s dialogue with Future for more than one year was marked by “lies and deception.”
As a road map to resolve the political crisis, Aoun called for an amendment of the Constitution to allow for the president to be elected by a direct public vote and the approval of a new electoral law based on proportional representation with 15 districts. “We want an electoral law based on proportionality and the election of a strong president who represents his people.”
Aoun said MPs from his Change and Reform Bloc will attend a parliamentary session next week scheduled to elect the body’s secretariat members and committee members. He said he has not yet decided whether to attend a new national dialogue session which Speaker Nabih Berri has called for on Oct. 26 to resume talks on the presidential impasse.
Separately, MP Walid Jumblatt, accompanied by his son, Taymour, and Health Minister Wael Abu Faour, arrived in Riyadh for talks with Saudi officials on the Lebanese crisis.