Mikati urged for an end to political provocations Beirut – Georges Chahine Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati has called on the people of Tripoli to remain calm and not be drawn into those encouraging conflict in the city. He reassured the public that the Lebanese army and security forces have taken all necessary measures to establish peace and prevent attempts of creating sedition among the people of Tripoli.
Taking advantage of the holiday season, Mikati urged for an end to political and media provocations in order to allow the economy to recover instead of “wasting one chance after another.”
Information minister, Walid Daouk, reported on the cabinet meeting held on Tuesday, saying that the conference opened with Mikati expressing his congratulations to the Palestinian people over the vote that won Palestine the position of non-member observer state. The status upgrade, Mikati said, should serve as an incentive for further efforts in order to achieve more Palestinian ambitions.
Daouk reported that the Prime Minister contacted George Montani, the representative for Red Cross in Lebanon and asked for his organisation to intervene with concerned authorities in Syria. He pushed for them to help recover bodies of Lebanese fighters who were killed in Syria.
The Lebanese Foreign Minister also contacted the Syrian ambassador in Beirut to request the bodies of the Lebanese men killed in Syria be returned to their country.
“We reiterate our call to all Lebanese people,” Mikati said at the meeting, “to keep our country and ourselves away from intervention in the Syrian events so that we do not pay the price for conflicts that we cannot afford.”
Touching on the economic question Daouk said Najib Mikati called on ministers to conduct dialogue with the relevant economic and financial bodies in order to prepare a comprehensive dialogue that will soon become the focus of discussion with all concerned, in line with the capabilities available to the Lebanese economy.