Thursday 20 March 2008
Alice in Wonderland seems an appropriate comparison to the situation in Lebanon sometimes.
You may recall that in December 2006 the pro-Syrian opposition withdrew its five cabinet members, thus, in their eyes, rendering the government unconstitutional. However, the Prime Minister did not accept the resignations, the ministers stayed at home but continued to collect their salaries, the government continued to function and most lawyers are of the opinion that the government is operating within the constitution.
There is to be an Arab League summit in Damascus at the end of this month. In keeping with protocol, the Syrian government had, by the end of last week, dispatched a minister to each member country to deliver an invitation to the Head of State. Except, of course to Lebanon, where there has been no Head of State since November 23 2007. A number of countries let it be known that their respective monarchs/presidents would not attend the summit if Lebanon was not invited, so a few days ago the resigned (pro-Syrian) Lebanese foreign minister turned up at his office in Beirut to receive a minister from Syria who delivered an invitation, said to be addressed to the Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora. Now, of course, there is an ongoing debate about who, if anyone, should attend. Some say boycott the summit, some say send a low level delegation and some say the Prime Minister should attend. Watch this space!
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