Lebanon’s president asked Saad al-Hariri to stay on as caretaker prime minister yesterday after Hezbollah ministers and their allies resigned in a dispute over an investigation into the killing of Hariri’s father.
A statement issued by Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called on the government to “continue in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed.”
Hariri, who was meeting US President Barack Obama in Washington when his fragile, 14-month-old “unity” government collapsed on Wednesday, was due to hold talks in Paris later yesterday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The resignations of the 11 ministers followed the failure of regional powers Saudi Arabia and Syria to forge a deal to reduce tension over the UN-backed investigation into former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri’s 2005 assassination.
The tribunal prosecutor is expected to send draft indictments to a pre-trial judge this month, and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Nasrallah has said he expects members of his Shiite movement to be accused of involvement.
Hezbollah denies any role in the killing and had called on Saad al-Hariri to withdraw Lebanon’s funding for and cooperation with the tribunal — a demand he rejected.
Analysts played down the prospect of open armed conflict between Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, and Saad al-Hariri, who is supported by Saudi Arabia and the US.
However, street protests, skirmishes or even a return to the bombings and political killings that followed the 2005 attack could not be ruled out, analysts said.
The Saudi-Syrian proposals were never spelt out by either country. According to a politician close to Saad al-Hariri, they would have included a Hezbollah pledge not to resort to violence if its members were indicted, while Hariri would ensure that any indictment was not exploited to Hezbollah’s political detriment.
The US has pledged to ensure that the work of the tribunal continues.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said he was “disturbed” by the collapse of the Lebanese government.
“We dont want Lebanon to get back to square one. We thought we already left this station,” he told journalists accompanying US State Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton on her Gulf tour.
He also called on Hezbollah, without naming it, to stop believing that it is targeted by the special tribunal investigating Rafik al-Hariri’s assassination, and that all work should focus on reaching a compromise to maintain a stable government.
“All of us, Arabs, Europeans and yourselves [US] will have to work in order to reach a kind of compromise that would maintain the possibility of having a stable government in Lebanon,” Mussa said.
“Number two: avoid the pitfalls emanating from the belief of one party that all actions, including the tribunal, are but political ploys,” he said in a clear reference to Hezbollah, which accuses the court of wanting its head.
“There was a crime and the crime should be investigated and the criminals should be punished ... The tribunal should be above politics, the justice should have its way and Lebanon must have a government,” he said.
Mussa expressed deep concerns about the current situation in Lebanon.
“The situation is bad, is tense, is threatening,” he said.
Lebanese officials have declined to say whether Saad al-Hariri, whose coalition won a 2009 parliamentary election, will be asked to form a new government, or if someone else would be nominated.
Hezbollah, the only armed group not to disband after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, is now the most powerful military force in the nation, stronger even than the army.
Hezbollah portrays itself as spearheading Islamic resistance to Israel, not as a sectarian group. That image would be badly damaged if it were proven to have had a role in the huge truck bombing that killed Rafik al-Hariri and 22 other people.
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