Cabinet meeting headed by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on June 21, 2023. (Credit: Housam Chbaro)
BEIRUT — Lebanon's caretaker cabinet on Wednesday promoted all military and security forces colonels who attained their current rank between January 2020 and July 2022 to brigadier generals, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati's office announced in a statement.
This long-awaited move to promote these army colonels is believed to have been blocked for several years by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri during the mandate of former President Michel Aoun, as part of a political struggle over appointments.
Class of 1994
The officers' promotion decrees caused a serious controversy between the Berri camp and that of Aoun, who was determined to see the promotions through. All the more so as the class of 1994 concerned 220 officers, most of them Christians, who had entered the Military Academy a few years earlier, when Aoun was at the head of a transitional military government (1988-90). These officers had suffered prejudices linked to the fact that they had not been promoted like their comrades within the army. Except that, since 2017, finance ministers (all considered close to Berri) have refrained from signing these decrees as part of a settling of scores between Berri and Aoun and his son-in-law, MP Gebran Bassil. Finally, in early June, caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil signed the decree promoting the officers, enabling it to be sent to cabinet for a vote.
Contacted by L'Orient-Le Jour following the session, Mikati that "there is nothing to prevent the government from adopting a package of appointments to fill vacancies in the Military council [...]."
'Brevet' canceled
Cabinet also canceled this year's Grade 9 official exams, also known as "Brevet" exams, citing "logistical" reasons pertaining to the security forces responsible for safety surrounding the examinations.
"Cabinet demanded the cancellation of the middle school (Grade 9) exams for this year, and it seems like there are logistical difficulties for security forces. For this reason we took this decision, but the funding for the [grade 12] high school exams are secured," caretaker Education Minister Abbas Halabi said after a cabinet session Wednesday, according to the NNA.
Halabi said that his ministry will take the decision of whether to rely on school exams or consider everyone to have passed the year.
Official exams were canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to a lack of funding and COVID-19 measures. The exams went ahead last year.
UNIFIL
Halabi, who relayed the decisions of the cabinet session, said that the government approved all the clauses on its agenda except for increasing the state-owned telecommunications company Ogero's tariffs.
Among the decisions approved was the extension of the the mandate of UNIFIL for another year.
This green light from the cabinet comes as the UN Security Council is set to take its annual decision regarding the mandate of the peacekeeping force at the end of August.
On June 12, French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo and Lebanon's caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib discussed UNIFIL's mandate, with Bou Habib demanding the removal of a paragraph about expanding the UN body's movements in South Lebanon.
It is not clear whether the cabinet removed this paragraph from the mandate.
After the latest renewal of its mandate in August, UNIFIL had to push back against "misinformation" over greater freedom of movement in South Lebanon.
UNIFIL clarified that it continues to coordinate its movements with the Lebanese Army, even when not physically accompanied by the military. These clarifications followed incidents with residents of border villages in an area predominantly governed by Hezbollah.
Irish peacekeeper Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others were injured on Dec. 14 when their UNIFIL vehicle was attacked near the village of al-Aqbiya, an area in the south in which Hezbollah dominates.
Cabinet also granted salaries to around 2,100 Civil Defense volunteers, which they have demanded for years.
Telecom price hike postponed
Caretaker Telecoms Minister Johnny Corm explained to L'Orient-Le Jour that cabinet did not discuss the issue of raising Internet tariffs, which was on its agenda, due to a lack of quorum caused by the withdrawal of caretaker Minister of State for Administrative Reform Najla Riachi, who was expected at a pre-planned event. "Internet tariffs should be discussed at the next government session, scheduled for after the al-Adha holiday," explained Corm.
At the beginning of the session, Mikati criticized those who boycotted the meeting by saying, "It is strange how some are failing to undertake their duties in electing a president, and are playing tricks on the government. Accordingly we demand speeding up the process of electing a president." Lebanon has been without a president since Oct. 31 when Michel Aoun left office.
Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) ministers boycotted Wednesday's session as they did with previous session, claiming that a caretaker cabinet cannot take major decisions as it is a prerogative of a president. Days after Aoun left office, Parliament determined that the caretaker cabinet can only meet to approve "urgent" matters.
In a statement published Wednesday, the FPM criticized Mikati for "violating the [national] pact" which divides positions and prerogatives between Muslims and Christians through holding consecutive cabinet meetings. The FPM also criticized the "rudeness of the not fully met resigned cabinet, by approving more than 627 decrees, most of which are not urgent or important."