For more than three decades, Taif Agreement has been the Constitutional reference of the state in Lebanon. Its name (The Saudi city where the Lebanese politicians met to discuss a reconciliation plan after a 15-year civil war) indicates that the Saudi political and economic influence has been huge throughout all this period.
Taif Agreement was a main shift of power from the Maronite president of the republic to the Sunni prime minister, which enables the Kingdom to play a major role in the Lebanese politics.
The conflict of powers between the various state institutions as well as the vagueness of some of the Constitutional items created several political problems in Lebanon to the extent that some political observers called Taif Constitution as crisis-generator.
For the above-mentioned reason in addition to the unprecedented economic crisis which has plagued Lebanon, several political parties called for amending Taif Constitutions so that it becomes capable of coping with the successive crises.
The Swiss embassy in Lebanon on Monday announced the postponement of a dinner that was supposed to bring together Lebanon’s main political parties, after unconfirmed media reports about the event stirred political controversy in the country.
“Switzerland has been actively engaged in Lebanon for many years including in conflict prevention and peace promotion. Over the last couple of months, Switzerland, in collaboration with the Swiss based organization Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, was in contact with the full spectrum of political Lebanese as well as regional and international actors to prepare for consultative discussions, not for a dialogue conference,” the embassy said in a statement.
“It is Switzerland’s tradition to offer good offices when asked to do so. The planned discussions are the result of previous consultations with the full spectrum of political Lebanese as well as regional and international actors, and in full respect of the Taif agreement and the Lebanese constitution,” it added.
It also said that “the informal dinner that was supposed to take place this Tuesday at the Swiss residence aimed to further brainstorm with various Lebanese political actors,” adding that “the names circulated in the media do not reflect the actual invitees.”
“The dinner has been postponed to a later date,” the embassy added.
The postponement of the dinner came after the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Walid Al-Bukhari posted a tweet in response to the circulated reports about the dinner, considering that any amendment to Taif Constitution will threaten Lebanon’s very existence.
“The National Reconciliation Accord (Taif Accord) is a binding contract for laying the foundations of the pluralistic Lebanese entity, and the alternative to it will not be another accord but a dismantling of the bonds of coexistence and the demise of the unified country, which will be replaced by entities that do not resemble Lebanon the message,” Bukhari said in his tweet.
This diplomatic alert synchronized with security reports about preparations for certain terrorist incidents in northern Lebanon, which raises the questions about the correlation between Saudi ambassador’s remarks and the security threats.
Source: Al-Manar English Website
