Lebanese crisis deepens as rivals resurrect hard lines

 

Hopes for a compromise between Lebanon”s rival political camps diminished rapidly on Tuesday after reports that both sides were considering retreats to maximalist positions.

 

According to Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. (LBC) television, members of the ruling March 14 coalition met late Tuesday to consider replacing assassinated Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, who came from their ranks. But LBC also said that the participants discussed the possibility of accepting the resignations of the six opposition Cabinet members – including all five Shiites – who resigned in November 2006 and filling their seats.

 

A source from one of March 14″s harder-line parties told The Daily Star that the second option was in fact under consideration.

 

The Cabinet, which has temporarily assumed presidential powers in the absence of a head of state, can accept the resignations of ministers and affirm the appointment of new ministers, the source said.

 

The proposal was just one of several indications that the rival camps have drifted further apart. March 14 MPs warned on Tuesday that they retain the right to elect a president by simple majority, while the opposition reaffirmed that Reform and Change bloc leader MP Michel Aoun remains its preferred presidential candidate.

 

Consensus over the nomination of the Lebanese Armed Forces commander, General Michel Suleiman, for the presidency appeared to have evaporated after constitutional and political obstacles forced a postponement of a scheduled electoral session for the eighth time.

 

Hizbullah politburo member Hajj Mahmoud Qmati said Aoun would be the opposition”s sole candidate if March 14 does not accede to Aoun”s demands. Qmati, speaking to Tayyar.org, the Web site of Aoun”s free patriotic Movement, on Tuesday, said that to achieve consensus, March 14 must accept a “basket of conditions,” which includes Suleiman as president and agreement on the shape of the new government, a new electoral law and the ministerial statement of the new Cabinet.

 

“No one item or condition is separate from the other; they are interconnected. So pending consensus, the

opposition”s candidate … remains Aoun,” Qmati said. He added that there is no disagreement among the members of the opposition and said that Speaker Nabih Berri remains committed to the opposition”s “broad stance.”

 

Development and Liberation bloc member MP Ali Bazzi said obstacles to consensus emanate from March 14, which refuses to let go of the present government that the opposition deems unconstitutional. “We have made many concessions and have been patient these past 13 months, not for the majority”s sake but for Lebanon”s and its people”s sake,” Bazzi said.

 

Parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri accused the opposition of delaying the presidential election and trying to maintain a vacuum in the presidency through “unconstitutional suggestions.”

 

“The opposition is delaying the vote,” he told his family”s Future TV, “but I tell the Lebanese people that a president is coming and that those who are trying to disrupt the election should shoulder the responsibility.”
 

He added that if members of the opposition do not want to elect Suleiman as president, they ought to say so openly.

 

Youth and Sports Minister and March 14 MP Ahmad Fatfat, speaking to Voice of Lebanon radio Tuesday,

warned that the ruling coalition never relinquished its right to elect a president with a simple majority of MPs.

 

“It is a constitutional option. As we view the Constitution, we consider it an option, we reserve the right to use it to fill a vacancy and we will not accept a permanent vacuum at the pinnacle of government,” Fatfat said.

 

Lebanese Forces boss Samir Geagea said Tuesday that only “very painful solutions” remain available to deal with the presidential void. He said the March 14 alliance accepted the principle of amending the Constitution to avoid a vacuum and the risks it carries.

 

He accused the opposition of “fabricating justifications and pretexts” to postpone the presidential election. “Now we are convinced that they don”t want a presidential election, and maybe, they don”t want the republic as well,” Geagea said.

 

Geagea asked how a president”s powers could be bolstered “by cutting his term from six to two years” and how the office could be strengthened by accepting “an understanding with Hizbullah.” He said the dispute was a cover for the “bargaining” under way between Syria and Iran on the one hand and the West and its Arab allies on the other.

 

Suleiman said Tuesday that the army is committed to its duty to safeguard the security and stability of the people and to protect public freedoms. He made his remarks after inspecting troops deployed in the South.

 

“Lebanon”s resurrection started with the deployment of the army in the South which achieved sovereignty over our national soil, protected the liberation from the Israeli enemy and safeguarded the sacrifices of thousands of martyrs who fell while defending their homeland,” Suleiman told troops at the regional command post in Ain Ibl.

 

He told soldiers to exert more effort and show more discipline and patience in order to overcome difficulties encountered in this “exceptional era.”

 

Also Tuesday, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir met Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade and March 14 MP Wael Bou Faour in Bkirki to discuss “crucial and delicate national issues.”

 

In addition, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met with his ministers to discuss recent political developments. Earlier he received outgoing US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman.

 

In addition, the premier called the foreign ministers of both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. Siniora also received a telephone call from EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.