Daily Star - Mikati’s move to fund STL draws praise as well as criticism, December 2, 2011

The Daily Star

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati speaks during a press conference at the Grand Serail in Beirut, lebanon, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011. (Mohammad Azakir/The Daily Star)

BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s decision to pay Lebanon’s share of the annual funding for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon won much praise from Lebanese politicians Thursday, though many continued criticize how the payment was made.

Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi said the payment of funds to the U.N.-backed court came in the context of “the government’s commitment to fulfill Lebanon’s international obligations and maintain civil peace.”

“We have succeeded, thank God, in sparing Lebanon unnecessary turbulence. We must work more and reduce debate in order to boost the confidence of the Lebanese people in their government and achieve for them development projects within the state’s available resources. With this, we can strengthen national immunity and deny Lebanon’s enemies any chance to undermine stability,” Safadi said.

Meanwhile, members of the Free Patriotic Movement continued to present conflicting opinions – and reports – on Mikati’s decision.

Metn MP Nabil Nicholas expressed doubt that the government had anything to do with the funding of the STL.

“Mikati probably funded the STL from his own pocket,” said Nicolas.

“Funding the STL should be from the annual state budget,” he added, in a television interview.

But another member of FPM said Thursday that FPM leader Michel Aoun, a staunch opponent of funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, approved Mikati’s move.

Aoun “had directly approved the financing mechanism,” Metn MP Salim Salhab told the Kataeb-owned Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Western Bekaa MP Jamal Jarrah, a March 14 politician echoed Nicolas, arguing that the payment was made in an unconstitutional way.

“We had hoped that the entire Lebanese government would believe in justice and not only its head,” Jarrah told Voice of Lebanon radio station.

Tripoli MP Samir Jisr, from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc, praised the payment of Lebanon’s share to the STL’s funding but was similarly critical of the manner it was paid.

“The funding was supposed to happen in a sound manner within the constitutional institutions by taking out a treasury loan under a Cabinet decision,” Jisr told the Future News TV.

Minyeh MP Ahmad Fatfat, also from the Future bloc, said Mikati did the minimum of his duties by funding the STL.

“Despite the means by which the country paid its dues to the STL, I think Mikati’s decision was a victory for March 14,” said Fatfat. According to Fatfat, by funding the STL, Mikati fulfilled the demands of the majority of the Lebanese.

“But this government is still the government of Syria and Hezbollah, and what happened does not change this reality since the Syrian interests triumphed over Hezbollah’s,” he added.

Other March 14 MPs supported Mikati’s decision to fund the STL, but gave much of the credit to Speaker Nabih Berri.

Beirut MP Serge Torsarkissian thanked Berri for his initiative over the past several days.

“I said it yesterday and I would say it today: Berri did a great job and I would like to thank him for succeeding in his initiative,” Torsarkissian told LBCI in a telephone call.

Political sources told The Daily Star that Mikati asked the Central Bank for the funds from the budget of the Higher Relief Committee, which is under the prime minister’s office.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt hailed Mikati’s decision, saying it spared the country a major confrontation with the international community.

“We highly appreciate the big step taken by Prime Minister Najib Mikati by transferring Lebanon’s contribution to the international tribunal. It reflected commitment to international pledges and desire to not push the country toward a confrontation with the international community. It also reflected desire [to maintain] the internal balance,” Jumblatt said.

Jumblatt, who supported the STL’s funding, said Mikati’s move upheld the government in “this critical period in the region, which requires all Lebanese to show reason and calm, instead of indulging in private calculations, as was reflected in reactions to the financing by some voices in the opposition.”

The PSP leader said the solution reached to solve the crisis over the STL’s funding will help defuse internal tension.

“We hope it will lay the ground for a new stage of effective Cabinet action that transcends polarization and narrow interests and tackles the people’s problems and their social and economic affairs,” Jumblatt said.

Environment Minister Nazim Khoury told the Voice of Lebanon radio station that the solution to pay Lebanon’s share to the STL was worked out by President Michel Sleiman, Berri and Mikati. He expressed his joy over the decision that was reached, “regardless of the question of its constitutionality because we are living in abnormal conditions.”