Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati at a press conference in Beirut, July 4, 2023. (Credit: Dalati & Nohra)
BEIRUT — Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced Wednesday that he suspended the work of the committee he had appointed the previous day to resolve land and water disputes in the Qornet al-Sawda region, where two men from Bsharri were killed on Saturday in unclear circumstances.
The announcement comes after several parties, including Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces (LF), criticized Mikati's approach given that he heads a caretaker cabinet.
"In light of the objections and outbidding, the caretaker Prime Minister asked the committee's chairman and outgoing Minister of the Interior, Bassam Mawlawi, to wait before summoning him to a meeting, and to suspend his work," Mikati's press office announced late Wednesday afternoon.
He added that he asked outgoing Justice Minister Henri Khoury to "follow up the matter with the Supreme Council of the Judiciary in order to speed up the processing of related judicial files."
The Lebanese Forces said they felt a solution to the Qornet el-Sawda incident cannot be found "by creating or activating a certain committee ... But by stimulating the role of the real estate judge ... and by eliminating the obstacles that hinder his work so that he can accomplish his mission."
"A decision must be made to abolish this committee and not to suspend its work," the LF said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Bsharri MPs Sethrida Geagea and Melhem Tawk said Mikati's commissioning of the committee "constitutes a flagrant violation of the principle of separation of powers."
"The examination of land disputes is the prerogative of the judiciary, not politics," they insisted in a joint statement.
The committee set up by Mikati includes representatives from several ministries, including Energy and Environment. In addition to monitoring the situation at Qornet al-Sawda, the group was tasked with drawing up an environmental protection plan and identifying the region's nature reserves.
The caretaker Prime Minister had given the committee two months to complete its mission.
Security-related disputes are frequent in Qornet al-Sawda due to dissensions between the inhabitants of Christian-majority Bsharri and Sunni-majority Bqaa Safrin, in the Dinnieh district, over land and water supply.