BEIRUT, 14 July 2005 — Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Fuad Siniora endured a new setback yesterday in his bid to form a government when firebrand Christian leader Michel Aoun said his bloc would not take part.
Aoun’s refusal to participate comes after Siniora submitted a list of a proposed 30-member government to President Emile Lahoud in the hope he had finally succeeded in breaking the deadlock after two weeks of stalled talks.
Former Gen. Aoun had at the weekend said he was ready to resume talks on joining the government after a previous round of negotiations collapsed over demands that the bloc of Reform and Change be given the Ministry of Justice. “After responding positively to the request to participate in a government of national unity, the bloc was surprised by the calling into question of the accord, which created a climate lacking in confidence,” a statement from the bloc said.
“It is for this reason that our bloc has decided to link its ultimate participation in the government to the respect of agreements made in the past.”
In Siniora’s proposed government, the first since Syria pulled out its troops in April after almost three decades of military presence, four ministerial posts were allocated to Aoun’s bloc. But the bloc, which has 21 seats in Parliament and groups together Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement and its allied MPs, has been looking to be given five ministers.
The MP, Zahle Elie Skaff, a member of Aoun’s bloc, accused Siniora “of doing to opposite of what he says” and Saad Hariri, head of the election winning Future Movement “of not holding to its engagements”.
The bitter recriminations underline the difficulties faced by Siniora and his ally Saad Hariri, the son of slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, in forming a government that can bring together Lebanon’s various religious and political currents.
They also come as the shadow of violence again looms over the country after the attempt on the life Tuesday of pro-Syrian Defense Minister Elias Murr. “Instead of representing all the forces present in Parliament ... Saad Hariri’s Future Movement wants to take the lion’s share,” said Skaff.
“The Future Movement and its allies have a majority of MPs and only have to form their own government without giving out false invitations to other parties,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Shiite Muslim coalition of Amal and Hezbollah, which has 30 MPs in Parliament, also expressed “reservations” with the five ministerial posts given to them in the new government. “In a Cabinet of thirty people, we demand seven ministers,” said MP Ali Hassen Khalil.
In another development, Syria’s deputy foreign minister said in remarks published yesterday his country wanted Lebanon to join it in any peace talks with Israel. “The Syrian and Lebanese tracks have not separated and the reason is very clear,” Waleed Al-Mualem told Syria’s Al-Thawra and Kuwait’s Al-Anbaa newspapers in a joint interview.
“When we negotiate with the Israeli enemy together we can achieve better results.” Mualem voiced confidence that Lebanon, now clear of Syrian troops for the first time in three decades, would not sign any separate peace with Israel under US influence.
“Lebanon has a choice now: either the American direction, which means Israel — a remote possibility because of what we know of the Lebanese people — or the Arab direction. Syria will be the bridge for Lebanon in the Arab direction,” he said.
Mualem said such an agreement was the real agenda of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, whose demands were partly fulfilled by the end to Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon.
