Free
Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun stressed on Monday that his
parliamentary bloc fully rejects the funding of the Special Tribunal
for Lebanon in a stance that he described as independent from the
position of other parties.
“No to the funding of the court no matter what the stance of our
political allies are,” Aoun told An Nahar daily in an interview
published Monday.
“This stance is our own and is independent from that of other
parties,” he said, adding that “Hizbullah could agree (to fund the STL)
but we don’t.”
“It is a matter of principle. We can’t pay money to the
international tribunal without an understanding or an agreement between
us and the Security Council,” the head of the Change and Reform bloc
told his interviewer.
While stressing that his rejection to fund the court didn’t mean he
was against justice or the trial of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s suspected
assassins, Aoun said that the tribunal funds were being spent illegally.
He slammed the STL as illegitimate for being established by the
Security Council under chapter 7 of the U.N. charter. “This happens
only if there was a danger to international peace but this danger never
existed.”
Asked how he would confront the funding that is supported by Premier
Najib Miqati and Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi, Aoun said: “They are
violating the laws and the Lebanese constitution.”
“No one can make illegal commitments and impose them on me,” he told
An Nahar about promises made by Miqati in New York to pay Lebanon’s
share to the tribunal.
When told that Miqati, Safadi and National Struggle Front bloc
leader Walid Jumblat are backing the funding of the court, Aoun said:
“Let them pay from their own wealth.”
The FPM chief refuted rumors that the government would collapse over
the dispute on the funding, stressing that the cabinet’s existence was
not in danger.
“Those who want to leave (the cabinet) over the funding have already
planned to get out of it,” Aoun said, adding “no one can extort us
internationally and scare us.”
Turning to the situation in Syria, he said the Syrian regime has crossed the line of danger.
The Syrian people should “choose between calm democratic change and
blood,” he said, adding: “I believe the majority wants calm progress
that’s why President Bashar Assad’s (reform) program is getting enough
support.”
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/17061-aoun-rejects-miqatis-illegal-commitments-abroad-says-no-to-stl-funding
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