Premier Fouad Saniora's cabinet on Monday adopted its policy statement despite reservations voiced by four ministers on a clause related to the resistance. Information Minister Tareq Mitri said the statement was adopted unanimously to safeguard “ministerial solidarity.” [Naharnet]
The four ministers that had reservations were Nassib Lahoud, Tony Karam, Ibrahim Najjar and Elie Marouni.
Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel criticized the “ambiguous” reference to Hizbullah's resistance in the new cabinet's policy statement draft. Gemayel […] said such phrasing leads to “duality of concepts between the resistance and the state.”
In other news, MP Hamade said that at the next year elections people will have to choose between “the state and Hizballah's mini state. “
Now that the policy has been agreed upon [at least in principle] the government should start doing its job.
I wonder if someone will fix the electricity anytime soon. In Beirut, we have no electricity for three hours / day. I don't want to be trapped inside the elevator when the lights go off, thus, I have to check daily the electricity schedule. Outside Beirut there is no power for nine hours a day. That's what I have been told, but I am about to learn it soon from personal experience.
