The Fouad Saniora Return Upsets Hizbullah, Allies
Beirut, 28 May 08, (Naharnet) - President Michel Suleiman has designed incumbent premier Fouad Saniora to head a new government based on his nomination by a majority of parliamentarians. The Hizbullah-led opposition voiced dismay.
Saniora was summoned to the Republican Palace in suburban Baabda on Wednesday to be informed of a presidential decree designating him to form a 30-member cabinet of national unity in which the opposition would hold veto powers.
“Based on his consultations with members of parliament … The president has asked Fouad Saniora to form a new government,” the presidential decree said
Saniora, 64, will begin consultations on Thursday with the various parliamentary blocs on forming a cabinet in line with the Doha Accord that set the rule of partnership between the majority, opposition and President Suleiman.
Saniora, talking to reporters at the Republican Palace, vowed to bridge the gaps separating the rival factions as he stretches a hand to cooperate in the interest of Lebanon.
“I extend my hand for cooperation and solidarity so that our country can achieve the breakthroughs it deserves,” Saniora said.
He expressed hope that all parties would learn lessons from past events that must not be repeated.
“I call on all of you to heal the wounds and to overcome the divisions we have experienced and not to resort to violence to solve our problems,” he said.
Of the 127 members in parliament, 68 MPs gave Saniora their backing on Wednesday.
Formation of a unity government is a key plank of a deal hammered out by rival factions last week to end an 18-month political crisis that boiled over into deadly fighting and threatened to plunge the nation into a new civil war.
Under the deal, the majority would hold 16 seats in the new cabinet and the Hizbullah-led opposition 11, with the president appointing three ministers.
My Comment: 11 Is WAY to many - they should hold ZERO
Mustaqbal Bloc leader Saad Hariri said his bloc had decided to nominate Saniora again as he was the best man for the job.
“We didn’t name Saniora as a challenge (to the opposition) but as a move toward real reconciliation and to turn over a new page,” he told reporters.
The opposition, however, made clear it was not satisfied with Saniora, saying he did not reflect the spirit of national unity called for in last week’s Arab-brokered accord reached in Doha.
“His nomination is a recipe for conflict rather than reconciliation,” Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun warned. “It seems the ruling bloc, rather than battling for a new Lebanon, is seeking to unleash a new conflict.”
He added, however, that his camp would not stand in the way of forming a new government.
Saniora, a Sunni Muslim and close ally of slain former premier Rafik Hariri, has been prime minister since 2005 and headed a caretaker government since Suleiman’s election by parliament on Sunday.
Much of Saniora’s previous term was dominated by the standoff with the opposition that withdrew its ministers from his government late in 2006 in a bid to force Saniora to resign.
Analysts said the parliamentary majority decided to keep Saniora in his post to allow Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, to prepare for legislative elections next year.
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Sucks to be Hizbulla, start a civil war, get your balls kicked, lose on the political front as well. Boohoo.
May 28th, 2008 at 6:43 pmActually, Iran is the winner here with Syria too feeling pretty good. Remember, This General was the one who after a fews days refused to fight Hezbollah, and now Hezbo have veto power over the gov. Pretty good for shooting guns in the air for a few days… does not boade well for Israel, which means Syria will soon be directed by Iran to start something with Hamas and Hezbo joining in. It might get delayed a bit because acoording to Debka.com Syria is buy 5 BILLION of advanced Russian aircraft and weapons, with the check being written by Iran.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:00 pmThe Hizzies now have veto power that they did not have before. Making a deal with the devil only sets up Lebanon to be the base once again to a Iran-Israeli conflict.
That veto power will force the Lebanese Sunnis to decide whether or not to declare their own jihad against the Alawite Syrian-led military and their apostate Hizzie buddies.
Can civil war be too far away? All a Sunni cleric needs to do is declare the Alawites to be kafir (which they are) and remove the legitimacy of the fatwa declared by an Iranian Ayatollah that lends credibility to the Syrian military.
Drive a wedge between the Syrians and the rest of the Islamic jihadi world (mostly Sunni) and all hell would break loose in Lebanon.
The Sunnis in Saudi hate the Persians and the Shia. It’s only a matter of time before the Saudis or their proxies make a case against Iran and the Alawites.
OBL is already ahead of the curve in this regard. All he needs is a cleric’s fatwa and the Shia-Sunni conflict will divert any planned Iranian aggression towards Israel, into an internal Shia-Sunni jihad.
Me against my brother….my brother and me against my cousin…my cousin, my brother and me against others.
The sparks will be flying soon enough. Lebanon will once again be embroiled in civil war and/or proxy war.
May 29th, 2008 at 4:45 am