Bombings Bring Cabinet Formation Efforts to Standstill
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Soaring political tensions and two terrorist explosions that have rocked the country in the past week have brought the efforts of President Michel Suleiman and Premier-designate Tammam Salam to form a new government to a standstill.
Several local dailies quoted highly informed sources as saying on Friday that the possibilities to form a cabinet in the coming days have withered following the bombing that targeted Beirut's southern suburbs a day earlier.
“Lebanon's crisis is back to square one,” they said, adding that there were “no solutions” to the rivalry between the March 8 and 14 alliances.
The Hizbullah-led March 8 camp wants a national unity cabinet based on the 9-9-6 formula but the March 14 coalition is calling for a nonpartisan government.
Ex-Finance Minister Mohammed Shatah, 62, was killed last Friday along with several other people in a car bomb blast in downtown Beirut.
Shatah was the adviser of former Prime Minister and al-Mustaqbal movement leader.
Thursday's bombing in Haret Hreik district of Beirut's southern suburbs, which left at least four dead, further raised the specter of a sharply divided Lebanon being pulled into the Syrian conflict.
An Nahar daily quoted Baabda Palace officials as saying that the terrorist attacks underscore the need for a government that prevents security incidents from taking place.
But the officials stressed that contacts between Suleiman, Salam and the different political parties were ongoing to form an “all-embracing cabinet.”
The officials seemed to be hinting that the president has no intention to form a fait accompli government, which the March 8 alliance has totally rejected.
They told An Nahar that Suleiman will exert all efforts to stop the conditions and the counter-conditions that are preventing the formation of a cabinet that takes into account all the parties’ balance of power.
Officials close to Salam refused to comment to al-Joumhouria daily on the new line-up after reports that a 14-member cabinet was in the making.
Media reports had said that the cabinet formation decree would be announced next week.
03 January 2014, 09:57
12
M14 leaders act as if they want a government. They don't. Their goal is exactly what is happening now ... increasing chaos in Lebanon.
03 January 2014, 10:38
12
The Saudi-GCC Wahhabi plans are coming to fruition throughout the middle east and beyond. The Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi are now Qaeda strongholds while Iraq is besieged by violence.
In Syria the fight is on south of Damascus and around Qalamoun. In the east Syrian territory is under Qaeda control. In Libya foreigners and government officials are being assassinated right and left.
Pipeline are being blown up in several different countries while Bandar looks to have turned the Chechens loose on Russia in Volgograd threatening Putin's beloved Sochi Olympics ...
And of course in Lebanon suicide car bombers and assassins are striking with ever increasing frequency. M14 sabotage of the governance of Lebanon is just a part of the KSA-GCC plan to embroil all of MENA.
When one looks at the whole picture these are of course not isolated incidents but part and parcel of a Satanic Plan devised and funded by the KSA, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and their billionaire princes.
03 January 2014, 10:47
12
Eh walla. The country is heading to a total meltdown. One option to stabilize the situation is martial law, a military government, sealing of the border with Syria and strict control of camps' access points. HA must accept to withdraw from the Syrian theater and work with the armed forces to secure the border with Syria and help keeping the takfiris at bay. If Bashar needs assistance to resist the islamists, he can get it from Iraq and Iran. Let HA assume a defensive stance on the Lebanese side of the border. Later on, as things calm down a bit, we can resume all party talks to resolve the issue of HA's arms. It is a divisive issue but can be addressed through dialog, compromise and above all level-headed patience. What do you people think?
