By Hussein Dakroub

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati sounded optimistic Tuesday about forming a government capable of uniting the Lebanese and putting an end to the rival factions’ political divisions.

“My aim is to form a government capable of bringing the Lebanese together. I am working to form a government acceptable to the Lebanese,” Mikati told The Daily Star.

He said he was continuing contacts with all parties, including leaders from the March 14 coalition, in an attempt to reach agreement on an all-embracing government.

Despite the hurdles facing him as a result of the conflicting demands and conditions of the March 8 and March 14 camps for joining the government, Mikati said: “I am optimistic about forming a government that will win the consent of the Lebanese. I insist on forming a government that evokes satisfaction among the Lebanese.”

Mikati met Tuesday with caretaker Labor Minister Butros Harb, a day after he consulted separately with Kataeb (Phalange) Party leader, former President Amin Gemayel, and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on the Cabinet formation and the March 14 coalition’s possible participation in the government.

Mikati, who is backed by the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, spoke to The Daily Star a week after he was appointed by President Michel Sleiman to form a new government to replace caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s toppled Cabinet.

He has since been struggling to form a government that includes some political rivals from the March 14 coalition. While Hariri has said he would not join a government headed by a March 8-backed candidate, the March 14 coalition is yet to decide on whether to participate in Mikati’s government.

The coalition has urged Mikati to clarify his position on the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the issue of illegitimate arms before deciding on its participation in the government. Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc has also called on Mikati to make a public commitment not to end Lebanon’s cooperation with the STL, which is probing the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Billionaire Mikati, 55, has repeatedly said he wants all political parties to be represented in his government. But he has signaled he would form a mixed government of politicians and technocrats if Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc and its allies in the March 14 coalition decided to stay out.

A source following the Cabinet formation efforts said that Mikati was holding further talks with March 14 leaders in an attempt to encourage them to join the government.

“The prime minister-designate is examining a host of ideas with the aim of reaching a formula for a coalition government that includes all the parties,” the source told The Daily Star.

The source said that demands and counter-demands by the March 8 and March 14 parties, including requests for the same key portfolios by the March 8 camp, were delaying the birth of the government. He ruled out the possibility of the government formation this week.

Hariri’s Future bloc said it was waiting for “a clear stance” from Mikati on its list of demands it presented to him last week. Among other things, the demands call on Mikati to make a public commitment not to end Lebanon’s cooperation with the STL – as demanded by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies – by scrapping the cooperation protocol with the tribunal, withdrawing Lebanese judges and halting funding for the STL. They also call on Mikati to draw up a timetable for the collection of non-state arms, except the resistance’s.

A statement issued after the bloc’s meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora renewed its call on Mikati to make a commitment to “the Special Tribunal for Lebanon with all its details in such a way to reflect a national and moral conviction.”

It also called on Mikati to commit himself to “a timetable for the collection of arms aimed at the people’s chests throughout the Lebanese territories by all Lebanese and Palestinian factions, except the resistance’s weapons which are aimed at the Israeli enemy, which should be within a defense strategy to which all the Lebanese adhere.”

Mikati has said he refused to make any commitment to any party, stressing that conflicting demands by the rival factions could be solved through dialogue.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said that if the March 14 groups wanted to participate in the new government, they should accept the new political line. “Anyone who wants to enter the government cannot do so with his uniform in which he took to the street. He must take off this uniform and accept the new political line,” Aoun told a news conference at Rabieh after chairing a meeting of his parliamentary Change and Reform bloc.

He was referring to last week’s nationwide public protests as part of “day of rage” staged by Hariri’s supporters to condemn Mikati’s nomination to the premiership and show support for Hariri. Aoun said the new government should have “minimal homogeneity in order to be able to take decisions and govern.”

Geagea said the March 14 parties will either participate in the new government altogether or no one will. “Participation in the government will either be with all the March 14 parties or no one will participate,” Geagea told a news conference. He said so far there has been no serious offer or proposal that encouraged the March 14 coalition to participate in the government.

Geagea spoke a day after he and Gemayel met separately with Mikati to discuss the March 14 coalition’s possible participation in the new government. He said the talks he and Gemayel held with Mikati were in agreement with all March 14 leaders.

Gemayel also said his party was coordinating with its allies in the March 14 coalition regarding his meetings with Mikati on the Cabinet formation. In a statement after meeting with French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton, Gemayel said he briefed Pietton on his initiative with Mitaki aimed at finding a solution for the political crisis. “The Kataeb’s position is very clear. I affirmed it yesterday during my meeting with the premier-designate. What concerns us is the reunification of the country and stability which can be attained only by consensus on the invariables and postulations, including Lebanon’s international commitments,” Gemayel said.

Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi called, after meeting Mikati, on feuding Lebanese parties to close ranks.

Asked if he was worried about the situation in Lebanon, Roknabadi said, “I have previously affirmed the position of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is to call on all the parties to reach understanding, [engage in] dialogue and agreement and work together to better serve Lebanon. At this stage, I reaffirm that the Iranian position is to stand at the same distance with all the Lebanese and call on them to reach agreement and close ranks in order to serve this country.”

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams expressed hope that a new government would be formed soon. In a statement after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri, Williams said: “I underlined with the speaker the need for the new government to have the broadest possible base and to represent the interests of all Lebanese. The United Nations too expects the new government to abide by all of Lebanon’s international obligations.”

Meanwhile, Hariri left Beirut for France Tuesday on a few days’ family visit, the state-run National News Agency reported.