01 November 2012
BEIRUT: Defying the opposition’s calls for its resignation over the assassination of the country’s top intelligence official, the Cabinet acted Wednesday on the long-awaited appointments in the diplomatic corps in a move designed to revitalize the government’s work.
Responding to the opposition March 14 coalition’s latest call for a government change, President Michel Sleiman told the Cabinet meeting that the door is still open for the formation of a national unity government, while Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged ministers to increase productivity at their ministries.
The Cabinet’s measures and the president’s declaration came as visiting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Elizabeth Jones stressed the importance of avoiding a power vacuum in Lebanon and praised Sleiman’s efforts to resolve the government crisis sparked by last month’s assassination of police intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan.
During a meeting chaired by Sleiman at Baabda Palace, the Cabinet approved diplomatic appointments in 40 posts, including the appointment of ambassadors abroad, and the promotion of 27 diplomats to the rank of ambassador. The appointments, involving mainly employees from the public administration, also included people from outside the civil service.
Lebanon’s ambassadors in major capitals, Washington, London, Paris and the United Nations in New York, retained their posts.
Abdel-Sattar Issa was appointed Lebanon’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, replacing Marwan Zein. The Cabinet also named Ambassador Wafic Rhaymi as secretary-general of the Foreign Ministry.
Political wrangling between rival parties in previous governments had held up the issue of filling hundreds of vacant diplomatic posts for years.
Addressing the Cabinet session, Sleiman said he had launched consultations with political leaders to hold an emergency session of the National Dialogue Committee in an attempt to contain the repercussions of Hasan’s assassination.
“Certainly, I did not hold parliamentary consultations for the formation of a new government,” he said. He added that his call for an early session of National Dialogue to discuss the political crisis had been met by the opposition with calls for the government’s resignation.
Noting that he did not close the door to any proposal to resolve the Cabinet crisis, Sleiman said: “If the will is for a government change but for the better, for a national unity government, the door is not closed to any proposal.”
Sleiman voiced hope that the March 14 parties would reconsider their position “because no one can reject dialogue and link it to any condition.” He said Lebanon was passing through “critical circumstances” that could not withstand postponement or stalling.
The president referred to the international community which showed concern for political stability and security in Lebanon following Hasan’s assassination.
He praised the Lebanese Army and security forces for acting quickly to control the security situation and thwart attempts by anti-government protesters to storm the Grand Serail the day of Hasan’s funeral.
Sleiman’s remarks came a day after the March 14 coalition called on the Lebanese people to rally around its plan to bring down the Mikati government, saying that Lebanon was in danger. The coalition announced that it would boycott the current Cabinet and use all democratic ways, including popular protests, to achieve its goal.
Former premiers Saad Hariri and Fouad Siniora have said there could be no dialogue between rival political parties before the government stepped down.
Mikati has said his resignation has become out of the question because it would imply he accepted responsibility for Hasan’s killing.
The March 14 coalition has accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of being behind Hasan’s killing. It has also said the government is responsible for the crime and called on Mikati to resign.
Addressing the Cabinet session, Mikati vowed to stay in office, rejecting the opposition’s campaigns against his government. He said dialogue was the only way to resolve the political crisis.
“The government’s resignation should not be a cause for a new crisis. Rather, it should be a plan for resolving the current crisis,” Mikati said.
He recalled that the opposition’s campaigns against the government had not stopped since its formation in June last year. Mikati said that a day after Hasan’s assassination he offered to resign to pave the way for the formation of a new government but Sleiman chose to consult with members of the National Dialogue Committee on finding a solution for the crisis.
“Instead of the opposition accepting this [Sleiman’s] initiative and meeting with us to search for a solution, it has taken more escalatory steps, including the declaration of a boycott of the government and constitutional institutions and implicitly rejecting the president’s call for dialogue,” Mikati said.
“The response to the [March 14] campaigns of accusations and slander is to energize and protect the Cabinet work and not by engaging in rhetoric through media outlets,” he added.
The prime minister renewed his call on all the parties to meet together and agree on steps that can protect the country and ward off the specter of a power vacuum.
“We are ready for a dialogue that leads to drawing up clear outlines for the desired solution away from escalation and stubbornness because we will not accept to let the country go to vacuum and the unknown,” Mikati added. “Dialogue is the first and last resort for a solution.”
Earlier, Mikati said he wished the opposition against his government was constructive and political. “But it is personal par excellence,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea renewed March 14 calls for a Cabinet change, accusing the current government of being behind the wave of assassinations targeting March 14 figures.
“Bringing down the government is part of what the March 14 parties want because the killing machine is concentrated in the government. Therefore, it should be brought down,” he said in an interview with Future TV Wednesday night. “The majority in this government is criminal. A solution lies in the formation of a technocratic government to fortify the situation before the [2013] elections.”
“It’s not true that bringing down this government would halt killings. We want to bring it down because it is a government whose majority is from the March 8 group, which is somewhat responsible for the assassinations,” Geagea said, adding: “Our proposal is the formation of a neutral government of technocrats to look after people’s affairs.”
Asked to comment on Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt’s rejection of Hariri’s request to withdraw his three ministers from the Cabinet in the wake of Hasan’s assassination, Geagea said the PSP chief was not worried about a power vacuum as he said, but was afraid of violent retaliation.
In the meantime, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem called on the March 14 coalition to back off from their stance to boycott the government.
“We call on the March 14 coalition to demonstrate wisdom and accept the current state of the government because chaos and disruption damage the country and won’t change anything,” Qassem said in a statement. “Political stability in Lebanon is a priority ... Lebanon is amid a region in flames and internal stability is needed to protect it against repercussions.”
Copyright The Daily Star 2012.
