By Hussein Dakroub

Monday, January 31, 2011

BEIRUT: This week promises to be a decisive week for Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati as he attempts to either form a new government which includes some March 14 personalities or a mixed cabinet of politicians and technocrats excluding the March 14 coalition altogether, political sources said Sunday.

“The government should be formed by the end of the week because the region is on the boil,” a March 8 source told The Daily Star, referring to the popular uprising against the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “We have to act to consolidate the internal situation.”

Mikati briefed President Michel Sleiman Saturday on the results of two days of consultations he held with parliamentary blocs on forming a new government to replace caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s toppled national unity Cabinet.

Sleiman and Mikati discussed “the formation of a government to confront the challenges lying ahead and the living, social and administrative requirements, in addition to preserving national unity and the democratic climate for which Lebanon is distinguished,” said a statement released by the president’s media office.

Mikati, 55, who is backed by the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, has repeatedly said he wants all political parties to be represented in his government. But he has indicated that he would form a mixed government of politicians and technocrats if Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc and its allies in the March 14 coalition decide to stay out.

Mikati was appointed by Sleiman Tuesday to form a new government after winning the votes of 68 lawmakers against 60 for Hariri in parliamentary consultations to name a new premier. Hariri has said he would not join a government headed by a March 8-backed candidate.

A source close to Mikati said the president is demanding to be represented with five ministers, including the interior and defense portfolios, in a 30-member cabinet.

However, this demand did not immediately win Mikati’s approval, the source said. In Hariri’s Cabinet, Sleiman had five ministers, including the interior and defense portfolios.

Mikati is giving some groups in the March 14 coalition until Tuesday to decide on whether to join the new government, the source said.

“Mikati is hoping to announce the formation of his government Thursday so that he can go to Tripoli as prime minister Friday to attend the prayers there,” the source said.

Among difficulties facing Mikati is how to reconcile the conflicting demands of Sleiman and Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun with regard to Maronite representation and portfolios, the source said.

Billionaire Mikati, a telecoms tycoon with close ties with Syria, met Sunday with the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali, in the latest meetings he has held with Arab and foreign ambassadors since he was appointed to form a new government.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem has welcomed Mikati’s appointment, saying Syria is ready to cooperate with his government.

Mikati was backed by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies in the battle for the premiership after Hariri’s Cabinet was brought down on Jan. 12 with the resignations of ministers of Hezbollah and its allies in a dispute over the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which is probing the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The STL’s indictment is widely expected to implicate some Hezbollah members in Hariri’s assassination. Hezbollah has repeatedly denied involvement in the assassination.

Mikati, who had served briefly as prime minister in 2005 following Hariri’s assassination, is yet to respond to a list of demands presented to him by Hariri’s Future bloc, urging him to uphold the STL in the face of repeated calls by Hezbollah and its allies to sever all links with the tribunal. The bloc also sought a public commitment from Mikati that he would not disavow the STL.

Meanwhile, Hariri has implicitly accused Syria of ousting him from power via its Lebanese allies. He also said that a Saudi-Syrian-brokered settlement to end Lebanon’s months-long political crisis was dead.

“Our exit from power was not a coincidence when the results of the parliamentary consultations were announced. It was the outcome of an external operations order that had been prepared for months and they had worked to implement it by local tools,” Hariri said in a statement after chairing a meeting of his Future Movement’s political bureau Saturday.

“We were aware of the details of this operations order. We have dealt with it from the very beginning as a reflection of a firm attempt to impose prime ministers and the remaining presidencies with the force of external intervention and internal intimidation,” he said.

Hariri’s remarks seemingly referred to Syria, whose relations with the caretaker premier have been strained since October when Syrian authorities issued arrest warrants against 33 people, mostly Lebanese politicians, security officials and journalists closely linked to Hariri. The 33 are tied to the case of “false witnesses” who allegedly misled the U.N. investigation into Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt reiterated his support for Syria and Hezbollah, according to a statement issued after the PSP’s special general assembly held to discuss the group’s future policies.
“I wanted from this party meeting to explain some important political historic landmarks in the PSP’s history,” Jumblatt said.

Jumblatt, once a pillar of the March 14 coalition, quit the alliance in 2009 and has reconciled with Syria and its Lebanese allies, mainly Hezbollah.

During last week’s consultations to name a new prime minister, seven of Jumblatt’s 11 lawmakers voted for the Hezbollah-backed candidate, tilting the balance in favor of Mikati.

Renewing the PSP’s commitment to civil peace, the statement slammed the STL, saying that the leaks and tapes about the tribunal’s work “have proved that it had deviated from the course of justice and has become contrary to stability.”