Lebanese PM drafts policies to steer country to polls

Jordan Times, April 21, 2005

BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese Prime Minister Nagib Miqati's new Cabinet held its first meeting Wednesday to draft policies to steer the country towards elections next month and drag the country out of a political crisis. After Miqati named his new government Tuesday, US President George W. Bush said the international community was willing to help Lebanon back on its feet, but renewed calls for the disarming of the Hizbollah movement.

Miqati, a compromise choice between pro-Syrians and the opposition seeking to end Syria's three-decade grip on Lebanon, named a 14-member Cabinet after weeks of upheaval following the February killing of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.

The country had been without a government since Miqati's pro-Syrian predecessor Omar Karameh resigned at the end of February in the face of massive opposition protests that followed Hariri's assassination.

Syria, meanwhile, is continuing to pull out its remaining troops from Lebanon after pledging to end its military presence in its tiny neighbour by the end of this month, ahead of elections due to be held by the end of May.

Miqati, a telecommunications tycoon, has pledged to hold the elections on time and to sack top security officials the opposition has taken to task over the Beirut blast that killed Hariri and 19 others.

His Cabinet of mainly new technocratic members met Wednesday and formed a seven-member commission, chaired by Miqati, due to draft the government's policy declaration which will then be presented to parliament for approval early next week.

In an interview with Lebanese television, Bush reiterated demands for Syria to withdraw completely from Lebanon and insisted that the Syria-backed Hizbollah movement must lay down its arms.

"We put Hizbollah on the terrorist list for a reason; they've killed Americans in the past. And we will continue to work with the international community to keep the pressure on this group," he told LBC.

"Ultimately, the people of Lebanon are going to decide the fate of the country. And you can't have a free country if a group of people are like an armed militia."

He also said the United States and Europe, as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, were ready to "help this country get back on its feet after occupation, help this new democracy succeed."

Late Wedneday, thousands of Hizbollah followers held a protest concert near the heavily-guarded US embassy compound northeast of Beirut calling on Washington not to interfere in Lebanese affairs.

Miqati's speedy election and his prompt formation of the government "went beyond optimistic expectations and showed that the road before Prime Minister Nagib Miqati is wide open," said An Nahar newspaper.

"It was significant that the justice and the interior ministry were granted to two people who have the confidence of the (Hariri) family and MPs from his bloc," it said.

The paper was referring to Justice Minister Khaled Qabbani, a judge who will coordinate the inquiry into Hariri's killing, and Interior Minister Hassan Sabaa, a retired security officer who will be in charge of running the polls.

The United Nations has launched an international commission of inquiry into Hariri's assassination after a UN fact-finding mission found serious shortcomings in Lebanon's own investigation.

Tensions in Lebanon have been acute since Hariri's murder in a massive Beirut bomb blast which prompted unprecedented street protests, brought down the government and forced Syria to end its military presence.

Brigadier General Rustom Ghazaleh, Syria's feared powerbroker in Lebanon, bid farewell to top leaders on Tuesday, ahead of an April 26 ceremony for Syrian troops stationed in country for the last 29 years.

Syria, which sent in its troops a year after the outbreak of the 1975-1990 civil war, still has about 1,500 troops on Lebanese soil.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said a much-awaited progress report on Syria's withdrawal would be released next week.