BEIRUT, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Lebanon's House Speaker Nabih Berri warned on Saturday that his party will quit the cabinet if the government does not take concrete measures to bring home the Lebanese nationals stranded in COVID-19 affected countries.
"We will suspend our representation in the cabinet if a decision to evacuate expatriates is not taken by Tuesday," Berri, head of the Amal Movement, was quoted by the National News Agency as saying.
Berri urged the Lebanese government to hold an exceptional meeting as soon as possible to consider the issue of evacuating Lebanese expatriates who face the threat of a pandemic in their countries of residence.
"All these countries are seeking to bring their citizens back to their countries. As for us in Lebanon, we have forgotten that these people were originally pushed by the neglect of the state to leave the country, and yet they still enriched it with their love, loyalty, and the fruit of their labor," Berri said.
Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced a day earlier that the cabinet cannot bring home Lebanese expatriates before testing them for COVID-19, in a bid to protect them and the citizens in Lebanon.
