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Lebanese PM Najib Mikati forms a Technocrat Caretaker Government

Manuela Paraipan - 4/19/2005

Lebanon's Prime Minister, Najib Mikati formed a unity government on Tuesday, increasing the chances that a May Parliamentary elections could be held on time, as asked by the opposition and the international community. Najib Miqati said after the Monday parliamentary consultations that he had detected an emerging consensus in favour of a narrow-based government with the limited role of organizing next month's elections. This new government is representative for the Lebanon's multi-religious society, and it is a cabinet made of technocrats. The 14 members of the new cabinet are:

Mohammad Najib Mikati, Prime Minister
Elias Murr, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence
Mahmoud Hamoud, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants
Hassan Al Sabaa, Minister of Interior
Demianos Khattar, Minister Finance, Economy and Trade
Ghassan Salameh, Minister of Education and Culture
Adel Hamieh, Minister of Transport, Public Works and Displaced
Alan Tabourian, Minister of Telecommunications, Youths and Sports
Khaled Qabbani, Minister of Justice
Bassem Yamine, Minister of Energy and water
Charles Rizk, Minister of Information and Tourism
Mohammad Khalifeh, Minister of Public Health
Tariq Mitri, Minister of Environment and Administrative Development
Trad Hamadeh, Minister of Labour and Agriculture

Mikati declared "this government certainly groups all the Lebanese factions."

The new government has 10 days to win the Parliament confidence vote and to establish a new electoral law for the upcoming elections.
Supposedly, one of the first demands of this new cabinet is the resignation of the pro-Syrian security chiefs who are believed to be behind former PM Hariri's assassination.

"I have demanded the resignation of the security chiefs when I was a lawmaker, Najib Mikati. Now I am a prime minister and I will relay my point of view to the cabinet, and I promise that it will agree with me," Mikati declared to the Lebanese local media after announcing his government.

The resignation of the pro-Syrian security chiefs is a key demand of the opposition lead by Bahia Hariri and Walid Jumblatt.
Speaking on behalf of the opposition, Chouf MP Marwan Hamade said: "We expect Mikati to fulfil the promises made to us without change. This will decide our stance regarding the vote of confidence."

He added: "In particular, we want a direct statement that outgoing Justice Minister Adnan Addoum will be dismissed from his post as a state prosecutor in addition to all security chiefs."

Head of Hezbollah's Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, MP Mohamed Raad said: "We hope that the ministerial statement includes strong support for the resistance and for adopting its options in facing Israeli threats and aggression."

After meeting on Monday, the business leaders of Lebanon, Mikati said that his technocrat government will focus on "meeting the economic challenges in the country and protecting monetary stability" in a country facing 34 billion dollars in debt.

As Washington vowed to "help the Lebanese people run their own affairs," the top Syrian military official in Lebanon, General Rustom Ghazaleh was due to visit several Lebanese leaders on an official farewell tour.

Ghazaleh's visit comes ahead of a farewell ceremony for Syrian troops, which were based in Lebanon in the last 29 years on April 26 at the Riyaq air base in Lebanon's Eastern Bekaa Valley.

Syria still needs to pull out its remaining 1,500 troops from Lebanon under a pledge to complete its withdrawal by the end of the month, under pressure from the United Nations, the United States, France and the anti-Syrian Lebanese opposition.