Lebanon’s Christian authorities slammed politicians on Sunday for failing to remedy an economic meltdown that has left a new class of poor in Lebanon. During his Sunday sermon, the Maronite Patriarch hammers corrupt Lebanese politicians who have been raiding the government coffers for decades.
As the Aoun Government procrastinates, the Christian leaders are mounting a pressure campaign to stop the country from spiraling out of control.
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, the top Christian cleric, accused politicians of thinking only of their own vested interests. He urged Michel Aoun, the Hezbollah President, to take action. The corrupt Michel Aoun has amassed an incalculable, illegitimate fortune in recent years.
Al-Rai said:
It appears politicians want to hide their responsibility in emptying the treasury and not enact any reforms.
It is not to Iran’s advantages to have a strong and financially independent Lebanon. Hezbollah is assisting Tehran to meet that goal.
HEZBOLLAH IS NOT COMMITTING TO REAL REFORMS
Hopes of salvation through an IMF deal have retreated because Hezbollah is unwilling to enact reforms. Some of which might weaken its hold on the financial levers of the country. Many Lebanese politicians are also unwilling to yield power or privileges for fear it may weaken their sectarian agendas.
It is not to Iran’s advantages to have a strong and financially independent Lebanon. Hezbollah is assisting Tehran to meet that goal.
The crisis has decimated the local currency. It also has raised fears of mass hunger, which is the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since its 1975-1990 civil war.
Al-rai added:
Political officials…do not have the courage nor the freedom to meet and find ways out of the suffering.
He warned this was depriving the country of help it needs from foreign donors.
“Oh respected leaders, I address whatever conscience remains in you. Do you sleep comfortably at night while those under your care starve, and die of thirst and by suicide?” — Archbishop Elias Audi
LEBANON DECLINED SHARPLY SINCE MICHEL AOUN BECAME PRESIDENT
Economic woes, rooted in state waste and corruption, came to the fore last year after capital inflows slowed and protests erupted against leaders in power since the war.
Lebanon’s sectarian political system parcels out state posts based on religious sect, with the presidency reserved for a Maronite Christian.
The largest Christian bloc, President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, is too close to the Iran-backed Shi’ite Hezbollah movement. Both backed the current cabinet, which took office in January.
In another sermon in a central Beirut church, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audi also lambasted the political elite on Sunday.
Audi said:
Oh respected leaders, I address whatever conscience remains in you. Do you sleep comfortably at night while those under your care starve, and die of thirst and by suicide?
Earlier this week, dozens of people mourned a man who killed himself in a busy Beirut district, blaming the country’s leaders for the hardship which they said caused his death.
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