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| 25/06/2008 On Tuesday, Lebanese PM-Designate Fouad Saniora renewed from the Baabda presidential palace his refusal to set a deadline for himself to form the national-unity government, rejecting calls to apologize and open the way for other potential premiers and disregarding the tense situation the governmental vacuum is causing.
Nothing strange, only one month has passed since Saniora was nominated as PM-Designate and he still doesn't seem in a hurry. Instead of searching for exits to this new crisis, the opposition is making proposal after the other to solve the problem of portfolio distribution, but in vain.
Saniora is just refusing, no decision to form the government seems to have been taken yet and no breakthrough towards ending the cabinet crisis seems to be in the offing.
However, the opposition doesn't seem to be ready to wait so long for Saniora to form the government, that should have been formed shortly after the Doha accord was signed. Lebanese daily As-Safir said that the opposition was likely to request a new Qatari intervention to stop obstructions of the Doha agreement. In this context, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri warned "the road to forming the government is still blocked, and this is not encouraging."
For his part, Health minister in the caretaker government Mohamad Jawad Khalife reiterated Berri's proposal to expand the basic portfolios into five or six could be feasible and allow the exit from the crisis. "The custom of dividing the four sovereign ministries was aimed at preserving the Muslim-Christian balance. But it doesn’t work anymore because now there is a division between a majority and a minority," he stressed.
FRANJIEH: OPPOSITION LEADERSHIP SUPPORTS GENERAL AOUN
The opposition reiterated that it was open to all solutions, but with respect to representative levels and rights. In this context, the head of the Marada Movement, former Minister Sleiman Franjieh stressed that the opposition believes that Aoun's demand (to have a basic portfolio) is a right that should be granted to him.
Speaking to Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, Franjieh said that the opposition continues to hold onto its demand regarding the cabinet make-up.
Meanwhile, Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar quoted presidential sources as saying that the formation of the government has reached an impasse and could be delayed till after the Mediterranean summit if it was not formed by the end of this week. The sources noted that the president Michel Suleiman has not decided yet if he will attend or not but he would like to have the government formed before the summit in case he attends.
BERRI: FOREIGN STATES HAVE HAD ENOUGH WITH LEBANESE
Speaking to Lebanese daily An-Nahar, Berri commented on the outcomes of the Vienna Donor conference to rebuild the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, north of Lebanon. He noted that the amount of money raised at the conference was only a quarter of the overall expected costs of rebuilding the camp.
"The money is not even enough to pay for the destruction that happened recently during clashes in Tripoli's Bab al-Tabban and Jabal Mohsen," Berri sarcastically pointed out, wondering "What’s the use of collecting two cents and spending 5 cents?"
GEAGEA WANTS DIALOGUE BEFORE ESTABLISHING GOVERNMENT
The loyalty bloc doesn't seem to care a lot about the delays in the government formation. According to its key figures, "there are priorities", giving the impression that they are anticipating some kind of change in the region.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Lebanon last week and met with the so called March 14 powers. The process of forming a government has been more complicated ever since.
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea held a press conference Wednesday and, of course, assailed Hezbollah and General Aoun, accusing them of obstructing solutions.
Geagea refused the fact that Aoun's bloc represents the majority of Christians, seeking to assimilate his 3-member bloc to Aoun's. "If a basic ministry is given to General Aoun, the Lebanese Forces must also be given one," he said, claiming that Saniora "represents even more Christians than Aoun does."
According to Geagea, President Michel Suleiman needs to call for national dialogue, "even ahead of the government’s establishment if it is going to take time."
Former minister and former Phalanges Party chief Karim Pakradouni told Al-Manar that all the offers made to Aoun were aimed to embarrass him and exclude him from the cabinet make-up, "at a time Aoun is very well aware of their game." Pakradouni added that the constitution states that if a Prime Minister Designate fails to form a cabinet during one month, then he should step aside.
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