Beirut OKs panel to study cooperation with Syria
Lebanon”s Cabinet decided over the weekend to endorse the establishment of a joint Lebanese-Syrian follow-up committee to improve security cooperation, the latest chapter in arguments surrounding the recent visit to Damascus by Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud that initiated the process.
The decision was made Saturday during a session at the Presidential Palace and chaired by President Michel Sleiman.
Baroud, whose idea of reviving security coordination was rejected by some anti-Syrian politicians, won the support of the government, particularly that of Premier Fouad Siniora. However, the Cabinet decided to restrict the job of the follow-up committee to discussing the possible methods of cooperation.
The panel would be expected to complete its job within three months of beginning, after which it would deliver a report to both governments.
The head of the Internal Security Forces, Major General Ashraf Rifi, and his General Security counterpart, Major General Wafik Jezzini, have been named Lebanon”s senior representatives in the committee.
Baroud told LBC television on Sunday that the committee would help both Lebanon and Syria address their worries on security matters. He also emphasized that the follow-up committee was nothing like those established during the period of Syrian "tutelage" over Lebanon, which ended in 2005.
Syria”s cabinet is expected to approve the body on Tuesday.
Information Minister Tarek Mitri, who visited Damascus on Sunday for talks with Syrian opposite number Mohsen Bilal, quoted Sleiman as noting during Saturday”s Cabinet session that Syria had supported the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) during the 2007 battles with the Fatah al-Islam militant group at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp.
In an attempt to contain the war of words between Damascus and parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri”s Future Movement, Sleiman also said
that Future supporters had also backed the LAF. Syria and Future have exchanged accusations over alleged ties to the group.
Mitri told reporters in Damascus on Sunday that Sleiman”s visit to the Syrian capital in September had laid the foundation for a future relationship between Lebanon and Syria.
"The ties between the two countries are strong and relations are built on mutual respect and mutual interests," Mitri said as he participated in meetings of the Arab Information Committee and Arab Committee for Communication and Information Technology.
For his part, Bilal told reporters that he was "satisfied" with the new course of relations between Beirut and Damascus.
Also Sunday, Speaker Nabih Berri called on Arabs to stand united to face challenges.
After meeting Kuwaiti Crown Prince Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah in the Gulf emirate, Berri urged Arab states to work on developing the Unified Arab Parliament. He urged the heads of Arab parliaments to attend a meeting in Oman next March "to come out with a unified stance to face present and future political and economic challenges."
Berri, who also met his Kuwaiti counterpart, Jassem al-Khorafi and Premier Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, praised Kuwait”s support for Lebanon and hoped it would supply Lebanon with the necessary funds to help clear cluster bombs spread by Israel during the summer war of 2006.
Sheikh Nasser urged Kuwaiti businessmen to invest in Lebanon.
Also Sunday, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who is expected to soon embark on his own landmark visit to Damascus, accused the international community of plotting against Lebanon
"They want Lebanon to become a second Iraq in order to justify the existence of a neighboring racist country," he said in a clear reference to Israel.
Meanwhile, Aoun”s main Christian rival, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, told the Saudi daily Okaz in remarks published on Sunday that he would not be running in the 2009 elections, stressing that he would need to spend more time restructuring his party.
Ministry authorized to receive bids for cell networks
During a weekend Cabinet session, the government authorized the Telecommunications Ministry to receive offers to operate Lebanon”s two cellular networks for one year. The operating contracts are to be auctioned during a limited tender in two months.
The Cabinet also decided unanimously Saturday to cancel the operating contract of Alfa Company and to renew the contract of MTC Touch for two months, until the auction. For four years, Alfa and MTC been the exclusive operators of Lebanon”s cellular networks
The Telecommunications Ministry will operate the Alfa lines until the tender of the year-long operating contracts. A limited list of firms, including MTC, is to bid for the contracts, which will carry the possibility of a year-long extension.
The auction may be a step toward privatization, but revenues will continue to go to the state. Net government revenues from the two operators are expected to reach well over $1 billion this year.
Alfa is reported to be operating 630,000 lines in Lebanon, while MTC has an estimated 680,000, a number expected to grow significantly before privatization. As the number of lines increase, revenues are expected rise as well.
Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil said the ministry will keep working to improve the capacity of the network.