Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun told lawmakers on Thursday that he will work to ensure the state has the exclusive right to carry arms, in his first speech at parliament after he was elected.
His comments were seen partly as a reference to Hezbollah’s arsenal, which he had not commented on publicly as the former army commander.
Aoun pledged that his election would usher in a “new phase in Lebanon’s history” and work to end the Israeli occupation of Lebanon. In his inauguration speech, which received positive reactions from most Lebanese parties, Aoun said: “Lebanon is as old as history, our trait is courage, our strength is adaptation, and no matter how much we differ, when times are tough we embrace each other, and if one of us breaks, we all break.”
Aoun said that “the political performance in Lebanon must change,” and said: “My pledge to the Lebanese wherever they are and for the whole world to hear is that today a new phase in Lebanon’s history has begun, and I will be the first servant to preserve the charter and the national accord document, and to exercise the full powers of the President of the Republic as a fair arbiter between institutions.”
He added: “If we want to build a country, we must all be under the umbrella of the law and the judiciary,” stressing that “interference in the judiciary is prohibited, and there are no immunity for criminals or corrupt people, and there are no mafias, drug smuggling, or money laundering.”
Aoun pointed out that “my pledge is to cooperate with the new government to pass the draft law on the independence of the judiciary, and to challenge any law that violates the constitution, and my pledge is to call for parliamentary consultations as soon as possible to choose a prime minister who is a partner and not an opponent,” announcing, “We will rotate in first-class positions within the state, and we will restructure the public administration, and I will work to confirm the state’s right to monopolize the carrying of weapons.”
He stressed: “We will invest in the army to control and secure the borders in the south and demarcate them in the east and north, fight terrorism, implement international resolutions, and prevent Israeli attacks on Lebanon.”
He stressed: “I will ensure the activation of the work of the security forces as a basic tool for maintaining security and enforcing the laws, and we will discuss a comprehensive defense strategy at the diplomatic, economic and military levels that will enable the Lebanese state to remove the Israeli occupation and deter its aggression.”
Aoun stressed that “my pledge is to restore what the Israeli enemy destroyed in the south, the suburbs, the Bekaa and all over Lebanon, and our martyrs are the spirit of our determination, and our prisoners are a trust in our necks,” and said: “It is time for us to bet on Lebanon’s investment in our foreign relations, not to bet on the outside to bully each other.”
He announced his rejection of “settling Palestinians,” explaining: “We affirm our determination to assume the security of the camps, and we will practice a policy of positive neutrality, and we will only export the best products and industries to countries and attract tourists,” calling for the start of a serious and equal dialogue with the Syrian state; to discuss all the relations and pending files between us, especially the file of missing and displaced Syrians.”
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said after Aoun was declared president and congratulated him: “We are all waiting for the new era,” speaking about the critical circumstances that Lebanon is suffering from, “particularly in southern Lebanon, where the people there are being subjected to the worst and harshest wars, so Lebanon needs everything, the south needs it, all of Lebanon needs it, and we are all waiting for the new era.”
In a first round of voting Thursday, Aoun received 71 out of 128 votes but fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to win outright.
In the second round, he received 99 votes.
Source : (Asharq al Awsat ) translated from Arabic