Salam to Call for Cabinet Session, Rejects to Give up to Paralysis

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is expected to call for a cabinet session next week for “refusing to give up to paralysis,” his sources said Friday.

The sources quoted Salam as saying that “giving up to the logic of paralysis” is not part of his “dictionary.”

According to An Nahar daily, Speaker Nabih Berri, al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat have backed him in calling for a session on Thursday.

In remarks to al-Liwaa newspaper, ministerial sources expected the session to discuss the growing waste crisis and the salaries of civil servants.

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas also said that the session could tackle important loans and grants.

Political disputes have blocked the government from making any major decisions, including agreeing on alternative ways of dealing with the garbage crisis, which erupted when the Naameh landfill south of Beirut was closed on July 17.

Garbage has been accumulating on the streets in Beirut and Mount Lebanon for the past month and Health Minister Wael Abou Faour has said the country is on the brink of a "major health disaster" unless an immediate solution is found for the trash problem.

The salaries of civil servants are also under threat. The Finance Ministry has warned that it would be unable to pay state employees their wages without an authorization from Parliament.

But the legislature has not convened since last November when it met to extend its own term in office.

The cabinet plunged in a crisis when the Free Patriotic Movement insisted that it discusses its decision-making mechanism before any other issue.

It has been holding street protests against what it calls Salam's violation of the Christian president's powers amid a vacuum at Baabda Palace. It is seeking to amend the cabinet's working mechanism and wants to pressure the government to appoint high-ranking military and security officials rather than extending their terms.

G.K.

D.A.