Card. Sfeir: only regular army should undertake Lebanon's defence
The patriarch is in the USA to pay a visit to the Maronite community. He is set to meet President George W. Bush and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Beirut (AsiaNews) Only the regular army should be responsible for Lebanon's defence, according to the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir. In making this statement, he expressed his views about one of the burning issues of Lebanese political dialogue the weapons of resistance movements, especially Hezbollah. Cardinal Sfeir was speaking shortly before his departure for a pastoral trip to the United States, during which he will meet President George W. Bush and the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.
Yesterday, at the airport, he talked about the "inter-Lebanese dialogue", describing it as "indispensable", saying he hoped it would be successful. However, he added, the Lebanese people would not need this dialogue if the country's constitutional institutions were working as they should. Responding to a question, he emphasised that "the regular forces defending the country and the resistance are, right now, an accomplished fact. But the dialogue needs to be oriented in such a way that only the army will be responsible for the country's defence."
During the 20 days of his stay in the United States, Cardinal Sfeir will visit the American Maronite community to present nearly a month after deliberations closed the conclusions of the Maronite Patriarchal Synod, the first since the 19th century and since the latest political and religious developments. In Beirut, however, observers have underlined a political side to the trip; although this is not the Patriarch's first visit to the US, it is of particular significance because it is his first since Lebanon's liberation from the Syrian army. This was an event which, according to diplomatic sources in Lebanon, was the fruit of moves by Cardinal Sfeir and promises made to him by President Bush during a visit to the US in 2003, when the patriarch insisted on the role Washington could play in restoring full sovereignty to Lebanon.
The patriarch will be accompanied for the present trip by his "political right hand", the Maronite archbishop of Antelias, Mgr Youssef Bechara, who was the moderator of meetings with Kornet Chehwan, which contributed in no small way to developments in the political situation, seeing that it was born after a famous statement issued by the Maronite bishops in 2002. This statement maintained "the necessity of freeing Lebanon of Syrian occupation, because the presence of the Syrian army has destroyed the social peace and financial stability that Lebanon used to enjoy." Mgr Youssef Bechara was also appointed by Patriarch Sfeir to be the general secretary of the last sitting of the synod, and he is also considered by many to be Sfeir's most likely successor.
The patriarch's schedule in the US includes meetings with the Maronite community in the United States, where the Maronite hierarchy is represented by two bishops, one in New York and the other in Los Angeles (Mgr Robert Chahine and Mgr Gregori Mansour), to present the works of the Synod, especially the chapter dedicated to the importance of the Maronite diaspora. There has also been mention of the patriarch's desire to create a lobby capable of helping Maronites in Lebanon to remain in the land of their fathers.
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