BEIRUT – Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Kamel Rifai expressed Tuesday his complete rejection of Lebanon contributing funding to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which has indicted five Hezbollah members for the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafiq Hariri.
“Financing the STL is utterly unacceptable,” the Hezbollah said on Tuesday in comments made to Akhbar al-Yawm news agency.
Rifai stressed that there are more pressing domestic matters in Lebanon that require funding.
“Is the STL more important than providing electricity and oil for the Lebanese people?”
The Hezbollah official went on to underscore that if such a decision was made, it would not be constitutional.
“Neither the president of the republic, nor the premier, nor the finance minister can sign a budget for this tribunal without ratification by the cabinet,” Rifai said.
A “road map” has been drawn for Lebanon to finance its share of the STL, a newspaper report said on Monday.
Sources told the Al-Hayat daily that the financing will be sourced from the government budget reserve, and that the procedure was launched by caretaker Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi.
In June 2011 the UN-backed court has indicted five Hezbollah members—Mustafa Badreddine, Salim Ayyash, Hussein Anaissi, Assad Sabra, and Hassan Merhi—for Hariri’s murder.
The tribunal has set a provisional January 2014 start date for the blockbuster trial.
The Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentarian has called for the convening of a cabinet session, after the reciprocal accusations between the heads of the Finance and Public Works Ministries.
“This disagreement between the two ministers is supposed to push the president of the republic to [request that] caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati call for an emergency cabinet session,” Rifai said.
On Monday, caretaker Finance Minister Mohammad Safadi and caretaker Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi exchanged accusations over corruption and the respective work of their ministries.
The emerging ministerial disputes have decreased the chances of a return of government sessions, media reports said Tuesday.
The resumption of government activities has become nearly impossible following President Michel Suleiman’s positions, March 14 sources toldAn-Nahar newspaper.
The Hezbollah official criticized Suleiman, who Rifai claimed “is looking to please the Christians during the final months of his mandate.”
“Lately, Suleiman’s positions are bizarre,” Rifai said.
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/lebanonnews/524961-hezbollah-mp-financing-stl-utterly-unacceptable
