Aoun’s Allies Intensify Meetings with him to Soften Demands, Study Solutions

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati is seeking to intensify his contacts and consultations over the formation of the new government in light of the March 14 camp’s official announcement that it will not take part in it.

The main obstacle in the formation process lies in Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s demands, which he seems more attached to than ever, reported Al-Akhbar on Tuesday.

It added that a meeting was held Sunday night between Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil and the political advisers of House Speaker Nabih Berri, MP Ali Hasan Khalil, and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hussein al-Khalil, to assess the March 8 camp’s next steps in the formation process.

Informed circles in the meeting stated that the officials discussed methods to reach solutions that would take into account Aoun’s demands that would simultaneously not stand as an obstacle before Miqati.

Meanwhile, Al-Jumhuriyah newspaper revealed on Tuesday that a meeting between Berri, Nasrallah, and Aoun took place Sunday away from the media spotlight, during which a number of options were studied, including delaying the formation of the new government until a clear image of the Arab world emerges given the popular revolts in the region.

In addition, media reports revealed that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat recently met with Aoun at a mutual friend’s house.

Sources monitoring the government formation process told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published on Tuesday that the MP stressed to Aoun his refusal of a government of “malice” and that he supports Miqati’s position in the formation process, while Aoun did not seem willing to abandon his demands.