Lebanon's army chief and consensus presidential candidate Gen. Michel Sleiman said in an interview published on Thursday that he doubts the country's political crisis will be resolved. "Every time we take one step forward we find ourselves facing another series of steps that need to be taken before electing a president," Michel Sleiman told As-Safir newspaper.
"This leaves us with a mountain of contradictory conditions that must be met if a new president is to be elected. "If one side nominates me the other side protests. If one country supports my candidacy another opposes it," he added.
Sleiman said that he would step aside as army chief in August. "I have informed the army of my final decision to go home as of August 21," Sleiman said. The military commander said he will "benefit from his annual vacations that have piled up in the past three years to step down on August 21 instead of November 21."
He informed the military council of his "final decision" of his intended retirement three months before the end of his term, he told As Safir. "I have no intention of extending my term. I did my job the best I could and preserved the unity of the military institution during the hardest times," he added.
