Berri appeals for unity under an ‘all-embracing’ state

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Tuesday that responsibility for Lebanon is in the state’s hands, and warned that the country is heading toward further division. “The state is the only all-embracing [body] despite its shortcomings and negligence,” Berri said in a statement as armed clashes raged in the northern city of Tripoli. A recent increase in tension has seen the closing of roads and a spate of kidnappings across the country. These developments have prompted many Gulf states to recommend their citizens leave Lebanon. Almost all Kuwaiti citizens were evacuated. Fighting in Tripoli between supporters and opponents of the Syrian regime also renewed Monday, leaving at least five dead and more than 40 injured. “What kind of a national scene are we and the world looking at? Kidnappings, sniper fire, road blocking, [and] military councils for clans and sects? Who is providing the cover for these things to happen? Who would wish this evil upon Lebanon?” Berri asked in his statement. The Meqdad family, which has kidnapped a Turkish national and an unknown number of Syrians as retaliation for the alleged abduction of a family member by the Free Syrian Army, says it has its own military wing. In his statement, Berri criticized the “absence of political responsibility,” and questioned the “role of authorities, parties and forces” in ending the crisis in the country. “Has the country turned into a patchwork of intersecting denominations, sects, parties and groups? Do we not know that the kidnapping of our sons on their way back [to Lebanon] or in Damascus is but an abduction of Lebanon itself?” he said. “Each seeks Lebanon to be his own and so where is our shared arena as Lebanese? Or are we forming a ‘loya jirga’ similar to the Afghani experience?” A loya jirga or “grand council” is a unique Afghani system by which inter-tribal disputes are discussed. The Amal leader is seen as a skilled deal broker, and initiated the first National Dialogue session in 2005 after the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. His absence earlier this month from a dialogue set to discuss the country’s defense strategy postponed the current session until September.