Beirut, 9/11/2010

His eminence Sheikh Akl of Unitarian Druze Confession Sheikh Naim Hassan received in the Druze Confession House in Verdun the Minister of Social Affairs Salim Sayegh who said afterwards: “Under the hard circumstances that Lebanon is going through and the vertical split in all political aspects, it is necessary as the Minister of Social Affairs and on the occasion of the International Day of Children’s Rights on the 20th of this month to bring up with Sheikh El Akl important social issues in a series of visits to spiritual leaders that may constitute common grounds among the Lebanese, among which is the issue of Children’s Rights. This is to show that the Lebanese society “can” agree on some basic issues despite all the challenges. We received from his eminence the needed guidance and his sound opinion concerning some issues that need to be translated in the social politics that we are carrying out.  
In replying to a question regarding the outcome of the Council of Ministers’ meeting tomorrow, he said, “We always focus on national unity and agreement, and no matter what happens, Lebanon and the Lebanese government will not fall, we are on the same boat, and despite the waves, we either all survive or all fall. And regarding what will happen, there is still time till tomorrow evening to talk about that. I also want to stress that even if crises happen or threats or intimidation or instabilities, we insist on national unity and living together in Lebanon, and that we will not be divided by any political crisis. 
And concerning the issue of voting, he said, “We cannot change the rules of the game with every subject, and the basis of starting the government was in an atmosphere of agreement and away from voting. And had we been going with the logic of minority and majority, the government would have had a different pattern. What delayed and stumbled the government recurrently upon constitution except by moving away from the logic of the majority, then all the decisions that were taken by the government were in agreement, and the result is that we are with agreement in all subjects.”