BEIRUT, 4 March 2005 — Lebanon’s political crisis deepened yesterday when pro-Syrians called for the formation of a government of national unity, ignoring a list of tough conditions set by the opposition for the future of the country.
The pro-Syrian government of Prime Minister Omar Karameh was forced to quit this week after huge protests in Beirut, leaving officials with a complex search for a new head of government.
“The shortest and most effective routes for national dialogue is ... the formation of a national unity government that includes the various political trends in the country,” a meeting of loyalist groups said in a statement.
It also blamed opposition protests for pressure on the Lebanese pound in the local market that has forced the central bank to sell hundreds of millions of dollars to keep it stable.
Lebanon’s embattled president was, meanwhile, struggling to find a new premier after the opposition insisted on a Syrian pledge for a troop pullout before it would hold talks on joining a new government.
And Russia, a long-time time strategic ally and arms provider to Damascus, added its voice to the mounting US-led international calls for Syria to end its three-decade military presence in its smaller neighbor.
Three days after the dramatic resignation of Karameh, President Emile Lahoud has still not called for parliamentary consultations to name a new premier as laid down under the constitution.
A senior Lebanese official told AFP that if an announcement for the consultations is not made now, they would not start until next week, leaving Lebanon in political limbo.
About 70 opposition leaders called Wednesday on Syrian President Bashar Assad to officially pledge a withdrawal of troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon, where they dominate political and military affairs and many other walks of life.
They also demanded the resignation of Lebanon’s public prosecutor and six top security chiefs to ensure the integrity of the probe into the Feb. 14 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri that plunged the country in crisis.
The demands by the opposition - riding high on a wave of massive public demonstrations against the government and its Syrian backers - were presented as pre-conditions for joining talks on the formation of an interim Cabinet.
The opposition, which groups about 50 MPs out of the 127-member Parliament, has decided to be collectively represented by two MPs at parliamentary consultations, once a date is set for them by Lahoud.
MPs close to prominent opposition leader and Druze MP Walid Jumblatt also met with Amal leader and powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as well as the head of the Syrian-backed rival Shiite movement Hezbollah.
The meetings were focused on attempts to secure direct dialogue with Damascus to win a pullout of the estimated 14,000 Syrian troops that remain on Lebanese soil almost three decades after they moved in after the start of the 1975-1990 civil war.
