The Lebanese Government met Monday and unanimously approved a UN
draft setting up an international tribunal to try suspects in the
assassination of a former prime minister despite the objections of
the president and the absence of six ministers who have
resigned.
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"We tell the criminals that we will not give up our right, no
matter what the difficulties and obstacles are," Prime Minister
Fuad Saniora told reporters after a three-hour cabinet meeting.
"Our aim is to achieve justice and only justice. Without it and
without knowing the truth the Lebanese will not rest and we cannot
protect our democratic system and political freedom now or in the
future," he said.
Hariri was killed along with 22 others in a massive suicide
truck bombing in February 2005. The assassination sparked large
anti-Syrian protests in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, and led to
the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year
military presence. Subsequent elections brought an anti-Syrian
majority to power in parliament and the cabinet.
The UN investigation has implicated top Syrian officials, but
Syria has denied any role in the assassination.
Saniora, whose anti-Syrian majority dominates the cabinet,
convened the session Monday over President Emile Lahoud's
objections and despite the resignations of six pro-Syrian
ministers. Five of them, Shi'ite Muslims, quit in a dispute with
the prime minister over their demand for more political share in
decision-making.
The resignations cast a shadow over the decision because
Shi'ites were not represented in the cabinet, contravening a
provision in Lebanon's constitution to ensure the distribution of
political power among Christian and Muslim sects.
Still, all 18 remaining ministers attending the meeting approved
the United Nations document, and they defended the cabinet's
decision as legal.
"It is 100 percent constitutional," Information Minister Ghazi
Aridi quoted Saniora as saying.
Earlier Monday, Environment Minister Yaacoub Sarraf resigned,
joining five Shi'ite Muslim ministers who on Saturday quit the
half-Christian, half-Muslim cabinet.
"I don't see myself belonging to any constitutional authority in
which an entire sect is absent," Sarraf said in his letter of
resignation to Saniora. "So I am tendering my resignation from your
government."
Sarraf, an independent who is allied with the pro-Syrian Lahoud
and Hezbollah, submitted his resignation only hours before the
cabinet met. Lahoud had warned that the Western-backed cabinet lost
its legitimacy after the resignations of the Hezbollah and Amal
ministers, citing Article Five of the constitution that states "all
sects should be justly represented in the cabinet."
Saniora swiftly rejected Sarraf's resignation as he did the
other five.
With Sarraf's resignation, a quarter of the 24-member cabinet
had quit. His move makes it difficult for the cabinet to govern,
but legally it still has the necessary two-thirds quorum to meet
and make decisions.
The UN final draft, which the government received from the UN
last Friday, sets in motion the process of creating a "tribunal
with an international character" as authorized by the UN Security
Council to try suspects in the bombing that transformed
Lebanon.
President Lahoud had objected to some points in an earlier draft
and declared it would not pass without his approval.
Lahoud's opposition towards convening the cabinet to discuss the
proposed tribunal sharpens the political divide in Lebanon between
anti- and pro-Syrian forces. Lahoud and Hezbollah tilting towards
Syria and Saniora and his allies opposing their powerful neighbor's
influence in their country.
(China Daily November 14, 2006)
