BEIRUT: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Wednesday current tensions in Lebanon resulted from the fact that investigations into the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri were not managed in a manner that served Lebanese unity.
“Time was wasted on misleading stories and strange scenarios at a time when we wanted, and still want like all political and parliamentary forces in Lebanon, to move the investigations from their narrow, local and political frame, we want truth and justice,” said Berri.
Berri was speaking during a lunch banquet convened in his honor by head of the French Senate Gérard Larcher at the Luxembourg palace in Paris.
The speaker started an official visit to France Monday and is scheduled to depart Thursday after holding talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Berri said Europe can play a role in helping Lebanon get out of its crisis and assume a role in the region, saying this hinged on France’s keenness on assuming its responsibilities.
Rival political camps are deadlocked over how to deal with the issue of “false witnesses” into Hariri’s murder.
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar forwarded a report to ministers saying that the matter did not satisfy the conditions required for referral to the Justice Council.
While the March 14 coalition, headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri – the son of the slain former premier – supported Najjar’s view, the rival March 8 camp, including Hizbullah, insisted the matter should be referred to the Justice Council.
President Michel Sleiman is trying to broker a compromise to end the standoff over the matter in the Cabinet.
Hizbullah slammed the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) as an Israeli project designed to spark civil strife.
Berri said all Lebanese factions wanted to enhance stability in Lebanon and allow the Cabinet to carry out its tasks.
Berri said all Lebanese factions wanted to enhance stability in Lebanon and allow the Cabinet to carry out its tasks.
For his part, Larcher voiced France’s support for Lebanese state institutions.
“We stress that France supports Lebanese official institutions and we consider that their strengthening is indispensable for political stability in Lebanon,” he said, voicing hope that France could “cement stability to serve the unity of Lebanon” with the help of Berri’s post and “great effective role.”
In other news, Future bloc lawmaker Ammar Houri said the issue of “false witnesses” would not be referred to the Justice Council.
Speaking to Free Lebanon radio station, Houri said that Sleiman was making “important efforts” to find a solution acceptable by all sides “but that will not touch principles.”
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams said the STL indictment would be issued in due course.
“Let me say first of all that I am not a lawyer and this is a legal issue and it is an issue that will be decided in due course by the tribunal. When a decision is made? I have no idea. But it is an independent entity,” the UN official told reporters after meeting with Sheikh Malek Shaar in Tripoli.
Separately, Hizbullah-affiliated Al-Manar TV station said that the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel-Karim Ali and his Iranian counterpart Ghazanfar Roknabadi would hold talks Thursday in Beirut as a prelude to a tripartite meeting that would include the two envoys along with Saudi Ambassador Ali Awad Osseiri.
In a rare visit by a Saudi diplomat to an Iranian embassy, Osseiri held talks with Roknabadi Tuesday.
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