BEIRUT: The presence of Christians in Lebanon is vital for the entire region, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said.
“We are entrusted with (carrying out) the mission of our lord Jesus Christ, and we have to maintain it in Lebanon by remaining rooted in our land,” Bassil told the Lebanese Maronite community Sunday on the second day of an official visit to Mexico, the National News Agency reported Monday.
He stressed that Christians in Lebanon are key for the survival of Christians in the overwhelmingly Muslim Middle East. “If we (Maronites) ever leave Lebanon, I assure you that not a single Christian will remain in the country or in the whole Orient.”
He contended that Lebanon was unique in the Arab world for its political system based on equal power sharing between Muslims and Christians.
“Our Lebanese identity cannot be divided from our Christianity, it is not opposed to it and it does not undermine others sects, but it embodies Lebanon’s particularity, because it is the sole Christian-Muslim country in the Orient which is based on equality between these two religions,” Bassil added.
Bassil argued that the secular, but Christian-dominated Free Patriotic Movement to which he belongs, was battling to ensure that powers are restored to Lebanon’s presidential seat, which is reserved for Maronites, and for the enactment of a new electoral law to secure proper Christian representation in Parliament.
“Our battle today is aimed at ensuring equality. It is not a sectarian principle, but a national one for ensuring national (Christian-Muslim) partnership,” Bassil added.
Under Lebanon’s National coexistence pact, the presidency is limited to Maronite Christians, whereas the Prime Minister is a Sunni Muslim and the Speaker a Shiite Muslim.
Bassil began his Latin American tour Friday with a visit to Cuba, where he signed a memorandum of understanding with the island nation.
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