BEIRUT, 28 October 2004 — The knives were out yesterday for Lebanon’s new pro-Damascus Cabinet, unveiled as the nation grappled with international pressure over Syria’s dominance of its affairs and a deep economic crisis.
Prime Minister-designate Omar Karami described his new 30-member Cabinet as the “best possible” but Lebanese newspapers lambasted the line-up as “lame” and “second-rate”.
The United States, heading an international campaign to force Syria to stop meddling in Lebanon and remove 15,000 troops stationed there, said the Cabinet was clearly “made in Damascus.”
Karami unveiled his government on Tuesday, with key posts going to pro-Syrian figures and with women entering government for the first time in Lebanon’s history. “We are going to try to put the country back on its feet. We cannot perform miracles but we will try to ease the weight of the economic and social problems. We trust in God,” Karami was quoted as saying by local media.
Karami, 70, was named by Damascus protege President Emile Lahoud after last week’s shock resignation of their political rival, Rafik Hariri, who had headed the Lebanese government for most of the past 12 years. “It is a disappointing, confrontational second-rate government whose promoters have tried to improve its image by introducing two women,” said Lebanon’s top-selling An-Nahar newspaper.
“Omar Karami acknowledged it himself: He was unable to do what he wanted,” echoed L’Orient-Le Jour.
“So, instead of a strong, representative Cabinet able to face up intelligently to the many exceptional challenges facing Lebanon and restore to the Lebanese a modicum of confidence in their government, it is yet another lame government.”
Besides its diplomatic woes, Lebanon is also suffering a serious economic crisis, with an estimated debt of $35 billion, high unemployment and widespread corruption.
The central bank is thought to have spent $1.5 billion propping up the pound in recent weeks in the hope of restoring confidence in the currency.
Politicians close to Syria figure prominently in the line-up, including new Interior Minister Sleiman Frangieh, a personal friend of President Bashar Assad.
The defense and foreign ministries also went to pro-Syrians Abdul Rahim Mrad and Mahmud Hammud.
Lebanon’s political crisis was triggered last month when parliament gave Lahoud three more years in office under a Syrian-backed constitutional amendment. That came just a day after UN Security Council Resolution 1559 demanded the withdrawal of foreign forces in Lebanon and an end to outside interference — a clear message to Syria.
Al-Hayat newspaper quoted US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage as calling the new government “made in Damascus” and “a new violation” of Resolution 1559.
But criticism came also from so-called loyalists such as the pro-Damascus Al-Manar television station.
“They have divided up the ministries among a team riven by political and economic contradictions at a difficult time full of internal and external challenges,” it said.
The government was boycotted by the Christian opposition as well as influential Druze leader Walid Jumblatt’s bloc, which have both voiced strong objections to Syria’s influence. “It is the fruit of compromise between the aspirations of the political factions and is a government of confrontation with the Druze chief Jumblatt,” said the pro-Syrian As-Safir newspaper, labeling the Cabinet “an ordinary government for an extraordinary time.”
The only reaction from Syria came from the Tishrin daily, which warned that Karami’s task would not be easy, and that he should “consolidate Lebanese national unity (and) fraternal relations ... with Syria.”
