http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=123602#axzz1AvdyzcHP
Uncertainty grips Lebanon
Western powers accuse March 8 of subverting justice after government toppled
By Hussein Dakroub and Hassan Lakiss
Daily Star staff
Thursday, January 13, 2011
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BEIRUT: Lebanon was plunged deeper into political turmoil Wednesday with the
collapse of Prime Minister Saad Hariri's national unity Cabinet after 10
ministers from the March 8 coalition and a minister loyal to President Michel
Sleiman resigned over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Regional and world leaders expressed deep concerns over the dramatic
developments, with the United States and Britain blaming Hizbullah for
attempting "to subvert justice" and undermine Lebanon's stability and security.
Energy Minister Jibran Bassil, reading the statement of the 10 ministers'
resignations at a news conference, called on Sleiman to quickly launch
parliamentary consultations to form a new government.
Later, Minister of State Adnan Sayyed Hussein, close to Sleiman, said in a
statement he was stepping down after "political differences" had threatened
unity among Cabinet members.
Under the Constitution, the resignation of one-third plus one of Cabinet
members automatically leads to the collapse of the 30-member government.
The resignations came as Hariri was meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at
the White House in Washington to discuss the Lebanese crisis over the S.T.L.,
which is probing the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri.
Hariri did not speak to reporters after the talks with Obama and left the U.S.
for France, where he is expected to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Thursday.
A White House statement said Obama and Hariri vowed to pursue stability and
justice in Lebanon. It said the actions by Hizbullah "only demonstrate their
own fear and determination to block the government's ability to conduct its
business and advance the aspirations of all of the Lebanese people."
"The president and prime minister expressed their determination to achieve both
stability and justice in Lebanon during this challenging period of government
volatility, and agreed that all parties should avoid threats or actions that
could cause instability," the statement said. Obama commended Hariri "for his
steadfast leadership and efforts to reach peace, stability, and consensus in
Lebanon under difficult circumstances."
Following the ministers' resignations, a senior March 8 source told The Daily
Star that the March 8 coalition has a majority in the 128-member Parliament,
which enables it to go ahead with naming a candidate of its own for prime
minister during the president's binding parliamentary consultations.
A presidential statement is expected to be issued Thursday accepting the
ministers' resignation and asking the Cabinet to stay on in a caretaker
capacity until a new government is formed, a political source said. Sleiman
will also issue another statement setting a date for binding consultations with
legislators on the appointment of a new prime minister, the source said. He
added that Sleiman showed "understanding" toward Sayyed Hussein's resignation.
It was the first time in Lebanon's politically turbulent history that a
government collapsed under pressure of the resignations of one-third plus one
of its members.
The ministers' resignations were part of the March 8 coalition's escalatory
steps after Sleiman and Hariri failed to meet the coalition's demand for an
immediate Cabinet session to end Lebanon's cooperation with the S.T.L.
The March 8 ministers had given Sleiman and Hariri a Wednesday morning deadline
to call for a Cabinet session to stop payment of Lebanon's share toward the
financing of the STL, withdraw the Lebanese judges from the tribunal, end
cooperation with the STL, and prosecute the "false witnesses" linked to the UN
probe into Rafik Hariri's killing.
Hizbullah and its March 8 allies have for long been urging Hariri to disavow
the S.T.L. on the grounds it is part of a U.S.-Israeli plot aimed at targeting
the resistance.
The resignations of the 11 ministers came a day after the March 8 coalition
declared that Saudi-Syrian efforts have failed to break Lebanon's months-long
political stalemate over the S.T.L.'s impending indictment, which is widely
expected to implicate some Hizbullah members in Hariri's killing, raising fears
of sectarian strife.
The ministers' resignations came after they met at the residence of Free
Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at Rabieh, north of Beirut.
Reading a statement after the meeting on behalf of the 10 March 8 ministers,
Bassil said the ministers "regret that opportunities to ensure the success of
these efforts, spare Lebanon any attempt to undermine its stability and protect
it from strife have been wasted."
He blamed Washington for the Saudi-Syrian efforts reaching a dead end. "The
other side bowed to external, especially American pressure, ignoring the advice
and wishes of the Saudi and Syrian sides," Bassil said.
He added that after the demand for a Cabinet session went unanswered, the
ministers tendered their resignations in order to set the stage for "a new
government capable of shouldering responsibility of the next stage and carrying
out its duties to maintain stability, ward off dangers and ensure real
justice."
"The ministers hope the president will quickly take necessary measures for the
formation of a new government," Bassil said.
Marjayoun M.P. Ali Hassan Khalil of Speaker Nabih Berri's parliamentary bloc
who attended the Rabieh meeting described the ministers' resignations as "a
pure political process," adding: "We want to be more keen than those who served
in the Cabinet for a long time but did not maintain the logic of national
accord."
M.P.s who met Berri Wednesday quoted him as saying that the Saudi-Syrian
settlement was in favor of all Lebanese factions. He was quoted as saying that
the Saudi and Syrian leaders were honest in reaching a solution for the
Lebanese crisis "but it seemed that the Big Powers' game was bigger [than
them]."
Labor Minister Butros Harb, from the March 14 coalition, said the resignations
of the 11 ministers have further complicated the country's political crisis.
"There is no room for compromise over the issue of the tribunal. Because we are
keen on the country, we announce that we are open to dialogue [with the March 8
camp]," Harb told a news conference following a meeting of the March 14
coalition.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Lebanon's Cabinet crisis was a
transparent attempt to subvert justice, but vowed that the STL's work would go
on.
"We view what happened today as a transparent effort by those forces inside
Lebanon, as well as interests outside Lebanon, to subvert justice and undermine
Lebanon's stability and progress," Clinton told a joint news conference in
Doha, Qatar, with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani.
"The work of the Special Tribunal must go forward so justice can be served and
impunity ended," Clinton said. "Lebanon needs now to rally behind its own
interests. The Lebanese people need to get beyond political party. It's not
political parties that would be put on trial, it's individuals."
Sheikh Hamad said Qatar had no plans to mediate as it has in previous Lebanese
political crises, but added that the Gulf region hoped the Syrian-Saudi
initiative to find a solution could still move forward. "We still hope that
there will be a solution which will prevent Lebanon from slipping into
conflicts of any sort," Hamad said.
Read more:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=123602#ixzz1Avf9l0zX
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
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