Random Thoughts from Lebanon

The Lebanese political leadership has stepped back from the abyss and concluded a deal in Doha in the early hours of this morning. Everyone agrees that no one got everything they were demanding but an undoubted winner is the Hizbullah led opposition who have been allocated 11 members in a 30 member cabinet, which will give them veto powers over major decisions. It remains to be seen how this may affect the international tribunal being established to try the suspects in the  assassination of Rafiq Hariri. The present government agreed to the establishment of the tribunal after the opposition members withdrew from the cabinet in December 2006, and the opposition attitude has always been that cabinet decisions since the withdrawal are invalid. On the other hand, and undoubted looses is the United States, which has expressed unswerving support for the government of Fouad Siniora. Although Condolesa Rice has expressed satisfaction that the agreement has been concluded and further inter-communal fighting stopped, she cannot be very happy with the increased influence of Hizbullah in government.

During today the opposition tented camp in downtown Beirut is being dismantled and Hizbullah say this will be completed by midnight. The Speaker has called parliament into session for Sunday to elect the consensus candidate, commander of the army Michel Suleiman, as the next president. No one has mentioned for many months that there is a need to amend the constitution before he can legally take up the office - it provides that any senior government employee, which includes army officers, cannot run for the presidency until at least two years have elapsed since their resignation or retirement from government service. Maybe the constitution will also be amended on Sunday.

There seems to be a mixture of relief and indifference among Lebanese at the results of the Doha agreement. Many are not convinced that it is a long term solution to Lebanon’s many political problems but for the immediate future calm and normality (whatever that means in Lebanon) may prevail. Perhaps there is hope to salvage something of the summer tourist season and revive the moribund businesses in the downtown area of Beirut.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 21st, 2008 at 7:38 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.