Posted on 07/11/2008 10:22:33 PM PDT by Coffee200am
BEIRUT, July 11: Lebanon ended weeks of wrangling on Friday and formed a unity government in which Hezbollah and its allies hold effective veto power, as agreed under a deal that ended a paralysing political conflict in the country.
The decisive say granted to the former opposition led by Hezbollah, an ally of Damascus, shows that Syria has succeeded in wrenching back some political leverage in Lebanon, where it was the main power broker until its troops left in 2005.
The birth of the government, the first under newly elected President Michel Suleiman, should close a long political crisis that had threatened to plunge Lebanon into a new civil war.
But it also marks the start of a challenging new era in which leaders must contain rising sectarian tensions, prepare for a parliamentary election next year and start talks on the fate of Hezbollah’s military wing.
A presidential decree announced the cabinet after Suleiman, a Maronite Christian, met Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, a Sunni Muslim, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Shi’ite Muslim.
“This government has two main tasks: regaining confidence in the Lebanese political system... and securing the holding of a transparent parliamentary election,” Siniora told reporters.
The new team has one Hezbollah minister in addition to 10 ministers from its Shi’ite, Druze and Christian allies.
The opposition was guaranteed 11 of the cabinet’s 30 seats under a May deal to defuse a conflict that had sparked some of the worst fighting since the 1975-90 civil war. All major decisions require a two-thirds majority or 20 cabinet votes.
The Qatari-brokered May 21 agreement opened the way for Suleiman’s election four days later, but factional squabbling over portfolios had held up the formation of a government.
The majority coalition chose 16 ministers. Suleiman picked the remaining three, including Interior Minister Ziad Baroud.
Siniora’s close adviser Mohammad Chatah takes the finance portfolio. Hezbollah’s Mohammad Fneish becomes labour minister and Fawzi Salloukh, of the Shi’ite Amal group, foreign minister.
The cabinet’s main task will be to ease sectarian and political tensions to avert further violence, adopt an election law agreed in the Qatar talks and supervise next year’s poll.
POPULAR RELIEF: “Finally!” a 21-year-old Beirut man, who gave his name only as Ahmed, said of the new cabinet. “Hopefully it will be a real national unity government and they won’t waste time fighting at the table and will sort out the problems of the Lebanese.”
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana welcomed the formation of the new government which he said marked a “key achievement”.
“Important decisions need to be taken in the coming weeks and there is a lot of work to be done,” Solana said in a statement, reiterating the EU’s support to Siniora.
Suleiman is due in Paris for Sunday’s launch of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Mediterranean Union project, his first foreign trip as president. He is expected to hold talks there with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad
I mourn for Lebanon.
This Jorge Bush kool aid drinker says...
Bring the trouble makers into the process. Maybe they will stop blowing people up..or not. I once worked for a condomoium association. We made sure the loud mouths got on the Board. It was very effective.
Any remaining Christians , Jews and other non-muslims get out now!
Amen.
Disastrous for Lebanon. The Pearl of the Mediterranean has become a lump of coal. This also bodes ill for Israel.
So the Christians have been overun by the Muslims in Lebanon, the only thing left is the Jews.
So much for land for peace with Islam.
This is bad news for Israel and us. It’s also bad news for any decent person living in Lebanon. Murder Incorporated has taken over a once prosperous and free country.
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