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BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi has accused Lebanese officials of “causing problems and then seeking to solve them in a way that violates the constitution,” in a sermon on Sunday
In his address, Al-Rahi expessed regret over “what the majority of officials are doing by destroying the political work without any conscientious deterrent or consideration for the internal and external public opinion.”
His remarks came as concerns grew that the Lebanese central bank might be left leaderless amid a deep financial crisis.
The fate of the Banque Du Liban’s governance is unclear, as the term of Riad Salameh, the current governor, ends later this month.
Many Lebanese hold central bank gov. Riad Salameh responsible for the financial collapse, alongside the ruling elite.
The Cabinet cannot appoint a successor amid the country’s current presidential vacuum, which has been ongoing for nine months.
The central bank’s vice governors have threatened to quit if no successor is appointed, despite Lebanon’s code of money and credit stipulating that the first deputy governor should assume the main role in the event that a governor cannot be appointed by the president.
In the past few days, many ideas on how to resolve the issue have been proposed, including the Cabinet being allowed to appoint a new governor.
Christian parties, however, have rejected such a solution, saying it could prompt a new political-sectarian conflict by showing that the country can be managed without a president, with practical management left to the speaker and prime minister.
One political analyst told Arab News that a void in the central bank’s governance would lead to chaos.
“The political forces don’t have the luxury to pull strings amid the expiration of the governor’s term at the end of July,” said the analyst.
“Manipulating this critical position will lead to dramatic impacts that will directly affect the life of the Lebanese, their institutions and banks, and might steer foreign countries and banks away from dealing with Lebanon financially.
“This will raise questions regarding Lebanon’s position in the global financial system,” the analyst added.
MP Ghassan Hasbani — a member of the parliamentary finance and budget committee — said that the vice governors’ threat to resign and not carry out their duties was a dereliction of duty.
“They are obliged to follow up their work and they have a personal responsibility that’s subject to legal prosecution, which might lead to imprisonment,” he said.
Hasbani, who is a Lebanese Forces deputy, said that “amid the absence of a president, the caretaker Cabinet should not violate the constitution by appointing a new successor to Salameh.”
He said his party was looking into the possibility of filing an appeal before the Shura Council in case the Cabinet sought to appoint a new governor.
Hezbollah avoided discussing the matter of the central bank’s governance publicly, but central council member Sheikh Nabil Kaouk warned: “Lebanon is going through a critical and exceptional situation that requires responsible and courageous decisions to rescue the country, stop the collapse and alleviate the suffering of the people.”
Kaouk added: “This can only be achieved through dialogue, agreement and convergence of ideas.
“However, refusing to hold a dialogue means that they are insisting on disrupting the country, aggravating the situation, and wasting time and opportunities. This is what led the country to a state of stagnation.”
Al-Rahi’s remarks on Sunday pre-empted any attempts by the Cabinet to appoint a new governor.
He accused it of turning “the non-legislative parliament into a legislative body — although it has been a mere electoral body since the beginning of the presidential vacuum,” adding that the Cabinet had granted itself “presidential powers to carry out presidential appointments.”
He added: “You are creating a constitutional conflict that is adding to the ongoing political division … The one and only necessity, and the key to solving all your problems, is to elect a president.
“If you don’t do it, you are committing the crime of treason against the state and the people, knowing that treason is the mother of all crimes.”
In remarks directed at MPs, Al-Rahi said: “You have two respectful Maronite candidates. So go to the parliament and elect one of them in conformity with the constitution. If none of the two were elected … you can then discuss with each other and find a third candidate.”
He urged MPs to “stop wasting time while the institutions are collapsing one by one pending outside inspiration.”
Parliament has already held 12 sessions that failed to elect a new president amid the political rift between Hezbollah’s bloc — the majority of which is represented by the Shiite MPs — and the opposition, which includes MPs from the Christian bloc, reformists and independents.
During the last electoral session held in June, the competition was between Hezbollah’s candidate Sleiman Frangieh — head of the Marada Movement — and former Minister Jihad Azour, the opposition’s candidate.
BEIRUT: Syrian Kurdish fighters killed at least five members of Turkiye-backed Syrian opposition forces in an attack early on Monday in the northern Syrian town of Afrin.
The Turkish Defense Ministry also confirmed that two Turkish soldiers were killed in an attack in northern Iraq on Sunday by members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK. One of the soldiers died of his wounds in hospital.
The violence is the latest in a months long escalation between Turkiye and Turkish-backed groups, and Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq.
Ankara says the main Syrian Kurdish militia is allied to the outlawed Kurdish group. The PKK has led an insurgency against Turkiye since 1984 that has killed tens of thousands of people.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitor in the UK with a network of observers in Syria, said Monday’s attack was carried out by the Afrin Liberation Forces, a Kurdish faction allied with the main Kurdish militia in Syria known as the People’s Protection Units or YPG. The group has claimed scores of attacks against Turkiye-backed Syrian fighters.
Syrian opposition activist Taher Al-Omar said the attack took place about 20 km south of Afrin, and five members of the Turkiye-backed Failaq Al-Sham faction were killed.
Afrin has been under the control of Turkiye and its allied Syrian opposition fighters since 2018, following a Turkiye-backed military operation that drove Syrian Kurdish fighters and thousands of Kurdish residents from the area. Since then, there has been a series of attacks on Turkish and Turkiys-backed targets in the town and surrounding villages.
TUNIS: Tunisia has suspended salary payments for 17,000 teachers and sacked 350 school principals over protests demanding an increase in pay, authorities said on Monday.
The salary suspensions could affect about 30 percent of the country’s primary school teachers, and will escalate the conflict with the powerful UGTT union at a time when the North African country’s citizens grapple with a dire economic crisis.
As part of their protest, teachers in the country have refused to hand in school grades.
“The students’ failure to obtain school grades is a disaster and a crime against children,” Education Minister Mahamed Ali Bougdiri said.
Ikbel Azzabi, a union official, told Reuters that Tunisia’s decision aims at “starving teachers,” and the next school season would be difficult due to expected protest movements. Hundreds of school principals have already started submitting their resignations.
The education ministry maintains that the country’s public finances do not allow the teachers’ requests to be approved.
Dozens of thousands of families fear that the conflict between the ministry and union will deepen the ongoing crisis in Tunisia and threaten a turbulent new school season, while they are already facing high inflation, poor public services, and the loss of several food commodities.
TEHRAN: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will embark Tuesday on a rare Africa tour in the latest diplomatic efforts to reduce the Islamic republic’s isolation by forging new alliances.
The three-day trip — which includes Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe — will be the first by an Iranian president to Africa in 11 years.
Raisi will head a delegation that includes Iran’s foreign minister as well as senior businesspeople. He is scheduled to meet with presidents from the three countries, according to the official IRNA news agency.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani described the trip as “a new turning point” which could bolster economic and trade ties with African nations.
He also said the rapprochement is based “on common political views” between Tehran and the three African countries.
Iran has stepped up its diplomacy in recent months to reduce its isolation and offset the impact of crippling sanctions reimposed since the 2018 withdrawal of the United States from a painstakingly negotiated nuclear deal.
On Saturday, Raisi welcomed Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf in a bid to boost relations with Algiers.
Last week, the Islamic republic became a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which includes Russia, China, and India.
In March, Iran agreed to restore ties with its regional rival Saudi Arabia under a China-mediated deal. It has since been looking to reestablish ties with other countries in the region including Egypt and Morocco.
In June, Raisi set out on a Latin America tour that included Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba before a trip to Indonesia.
ADDIS ABABA: Sudan’s government refused Monday to join a regional meeting aimed at ending nearly three months of brutal fighting, accusing Kenya, which chaired the talks, of favoring the rival paramilitaries.
A power struggle between Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), spilled into war in mid-April and has since killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
The east African regional bloc IGAD had invited the foes to a meeting in Ethiopia’s capital on Monday, while fighting still raged across Sudan.
Neither Burhan nor Daglo personally attended the talks in Addis Ababa, although the RSF sent a representative to the “quartet” meeting led by Kenya, South Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia.
Since April 15, around 3,000 people have been killed in the violence, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, but the actual death toll is believed to be much higher as parts of the country remain inaccessible.
A further three million people have been displaced internally or fled across borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Multiple diplomatic initiatives to halt the fighting have produced only brief respites, with the UN warning on Sunday that Sudan was on “the brink of a full-scale civil war, potentially destabilising the entire region.”
Previous truce deals have been brokered by Saudi Arabia and the United States, but the east African bloc now seeks to take the lead.
However, on Monday Sudan’s foreign ministry said its delegation would not participate until its request to remove Kenya as chair of the talks was met.
The ministry had asked for “Kenyan President William Ruto (to) be replaced… in particular because of his partiality,” the statement said.
In a communique released after Monday’s meeting, the quartet noted “the regrettable absence of the delegation of the Sudanese Armed Forces in spite of the invitation and confirmation of attendance.”
Daglo had sent a political adviser to the talks in Addis Ababa, while the RSF in a statement denounced “irresponsible behavior” on the army’s part.
The quartet agreed to “mobilize and concentrate the efforts of all stakeholders toward delivering a face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the warring parties,” its statement said.
It also called on the rival generals to “immediately stop the violence and sign an unconditional and indefinite cease-fire.”
IGAD said it would request the African Union to look into possibly deploying the East Africa Standby Force — usually tasked with election observer missions — in Sudan “for the protection of civilians and… humanitarian access.”
Sudanese ex-rebel leader Mubarak Ardol, now aligned with Burhan, denounced “a plan to occupy Sudan” and moves to “promote military interference,” while praising the army for boycotting the meeting.
US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee was also in the Ethiopian capital on Monday for meetings with Sudanese and regional officials.
In a statement on Sunday, she had called on the forces loyal to Burhan and Daglo to “immediately end the fighting.”
“We echo the call of countries in the region to prevent any external interference and military support which would only intensify and prolong the conflict,” added Phee.
Experts say that both the army and the RSF enjoy support beyond Sudan’s borders. Neighbouring Egypt backs Burhan, while the United Arab Emirates and Russia’s Wagner mercenary group support Daglo’s efforts.
On the ground, residents reported battles and air strikes in several areas of Khartoum.
“Rockets fell on houses of civilians,” one told AFP.
Witnesses also reported fighting in El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan and a commercial hub some 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of Khartoum.
An army source said troops “pushed back against an attack” by rebel forces in Blue Nile state near Ethiopia.
CAIRO: A court in eastern Libya sentenced five people to life in prison after they were convicted of human trafficking over the deaths of 11 migrants who were on a rickety boat trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe, the office of Libya’s chief prosecutor said Monday.
The court in the city of Bayda also sentenced nine other defendants to 15 years in prison each, the office of General Prosecutor Al-Sediq Al-Sourr said in a statement. Another 24 others were jailed for a year, the statement added.
The defendants were part of a network smuggling migrants from Libya to Europe, it said. The statement did not say when the deadly shipwreck took place or provide further details.
The court ruling was the latest in the conflict-wracked North African nation to target traffickers. On Friday, the chief prosecutor’s office said another court in the capital, Tripoli, sentenced one defendant to life in prison and two others to 20 years each for human trafficking.
In recent years, Libya has become a major transit point for Middle Eastern and African migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to seek a better life in Europe. The oil-rich country descended into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi.
Human traffickers have benefited from the instability in Libya, smuggling migrants across borders from six nations, including Egypt, Algeria and Sudan. They then pack desperate people into ill-equipped rubber boats and other vessels for the risky voyage across the central Mediterranean.
For years, the United Nations and rights groups have decried the inhumane conditions faced by migrants trafficked and smuggled across the Mediterranean.
In March, UN-backed human rights experts said there was evidence that crimes against humanity had been committed against Libyans and migrants in in Libya, including women being forced into sexual slavery.