Lebanon scrambles to pay salaries to army

BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities scrambled on Monday to pay overdue salaries to the army, laying bare the extent of an institutional paralysis caused by local political rivalries.

The salaries were due to be paid last week but were delayed because neither the cabinet nor parliament convened to pass a decree needed to transfer the necessary funds. Both bodies have been riven by political tensions linked to wider conflict in the Middle East.

Part of the widespread criticism of Lebanon’s politicians has been focused on an unresolved refuse collection dispute that has allowed trash to pile up in Beirut, and their failure to agree on a new president. Lebanon has been without a head of state for 17 months.

But not paying its soldiers on time, which Commander Jean Kahwaji told Al Mustaqbal newspaper on Sunday had led to “anger in the ranks”, has struck an even more sensitive chord in a country where the army has been seen as the guarantor of civil peace since the 1975-90 civil war.

Defence Minister Samir Moqbel said after meeting Prime Minister Tammam Salam that the salaries would be paid on Monday.

Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil told Reuters he was working on a “legal formulation” allowing the salaries to be transferred from a state reserve fund.

“I have a decree that requires cabinet (approval), but the prime minister is bearing responsibility for the implementation of this decree,” Khalil said.