New Policy Statement to Adopt Arms and Some Tribunal Clauses of Hariri’s Cabinet
The new cabinet’s policy statement is expected to remain committed to some of the major clauses of Saad Hariri’s ministerial statement including the right of "Lebanon, its government, its people, its army and its resistance" to liberate all Lebanese territory.
An Nahar daily said Wednesday that Najib Miqati’s new cabinet would also commit itself to international resolutions and the protocol signed between the Lebanese government and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that will try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s suspected assassins.
The March 14 forces have expressed fears that the new government would stop Lebanon's share of funding for the Netherlands-based court, remove the three Lebanese judges on the STL and renounce the protocol of agreement concerning the court.
The move to keep several clauses intact is aimed at avoiding a confrontation with the international community pending the release of the indictment in Hariri’s case, said the newspaper.
March 8 sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that agreement was reached between Miqati and Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on controversial issues linked to the international community, including the tribunal.
The two officials agreed to state in the ministerial statement that the government is keen on guaranteeing justice in Hariri’s case and rejects its politicization. According to al-Hayat, Miqati and Nasrallah also decided not to announce the cabinet’s stance from the indictment until it was issued.
Once it has drafted its policy statement, the cabinet will go to parliament to seek a vote of confidence.
A ministerial source told al-Hayat that the drafting would take one week or maximum 10 days. The constitution grants the ministerial committee a 30-day time limit to draft the statement.
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