BEIRUT, 15 November 2006 — Lebanon’s rival political camps dug in their heels yesterday, with Hezbollah’s leader threatening the government and the prime minister vowing to keep his anti-Syrian majority Cabinet afloat.
A “clean” Cabinet will soon replace the Western-backed government of Fouad Siniora, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was quoted as telling his followers.
He tried to ease fears that Lebanon was sliding toward chaos, saying Hezbollah would preserve its stability. Six ministers from the Shiite group and its allies resigned from the Cabinet after the collapse at the weekend of all-party talks on the pro-Syrian camp’s demand for a Cabinet reshuffle that would give it effective veto power.
“This government will go,” As-Safir daily quoted Nasrallah as saying. “We have no links to it after the resignation.”
Siniora said he would resist demands by Hezbollah and its allies that would amount to “tyranny of the minority.”
He said the majority was ready to expand the Cabinet, but not yield a third of Cabinet seats to the opposition. “They will become able to paralyze the meetings of the Cabinet of ministers ... and have the ability to topple the government,” he said. “In a democracy, this is not possible.”
Siniora, a Sunni Muslim who became prime minister 15 months ago after elections swept an anti-Syrian coalition to power, said he would pursue dialogue to resolve the political crisis.
But he said Hezbollah’s threats to take to the streets in peaceful protest could spark counter-demonstrations and jeopardize Lebanon’s chances of tapping foreign aid for reconstruction after the July-August war with Israel.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt ruled out giving Hezbollah and the pro-Syrian camp a decisive say in government.
“They have the president, who is totally favoring them, they have...their alliance with the Iranians and Syrians, at the expense of Lebanese independence,” he said. “They have weaponry, nobody is speaking about their weaponry.”
Jumblatt and other anti-Syrian leaders say the Cabinet resignations were an attempt to block the creation of a special tribunal to try Hariri’s suspected killers.
Siniora said he would hold talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally who also leads the Shiite Amal movement. Berri was due to return from Iran later in the day. If those consultations fail to calm the atmosphere, Hezbollah may stage the street demonstrations it has promised.
Berri had ruled that the Cabinet meeting which adopted the UN document was constitutional, and called on the government to “simply replace the ministers who have resigned.”
“We will simply be in the opposition, and we will object when we will have to object and we will be supportive when we have to be. This is what is called a constructive opposition,” he said.
