Last update - 00:00 10/12/2006
Lebanese gov't, opposition mull proposal for changes to cabinet
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
Lebanese government representatives and opposition leaders on Sunday declared willingness to consider an Arab League proposal to amend the number of ministers in the cabinet in an effort to curb the country's political strife.
Arab League representative and Sudanese foreign affairs adviser Mustafa Ismail will arrive in Lebanon on Monday to work on negotiations between the feuding sides.
The proposal would raise the number of ministers in the Lebanese cabinet to 30, including 19 representatives of the parliamentary majority and 10 from the opposition movements. The additional minister, who would serve as the deciding factor in parliament, would be appointed to his position as a candidate proposed by the opposition and approved by the parliamentary majority.
The proposal also requires the parliament to approve the creation of an international tribunal to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. The proposal does not include deposing the current Lebanese president, Emile Lahoud, whom the majority of the coalition opposes.
Protests enter 10th day
Hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah-led protesters swarmed downtown Beirut earlier Sunday, demanding Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora cede some power to the opposition or step down.
The demonstration was considered a possible tipping point in Lebanon's burgeoning political crisis, 10 days after a coalition of largely pro-Syrian opposition groups launched a series of rallies against Siniora's anti-Syrian, U.S.-backed government.
The opposition seeks from the massive show of force to pressure the government and send a message to its Arab and international backers as well.
Sheik Naim Kassem, Hezbollah's deputy leader, said the opposition was willing to stay on the streets for months to achieve its goal.
"Does Bush want popular expression in Lebanon? Does the West and the Arabs want to hear the voice of the people in Lebanon? Tell them 'Death to America!' Tell them 'Death to Israel!"' the crowd repeated behind him
Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, gave Siniora an ultimatum of "a few days" to either accept a national unity government or face unspecified action that would eventually lead to a transitional government and early elections.
"What we hope for today is for them to understand that their era is over," he said in a video link speech that appeared on giant screens.
Holed up in his fortified office downtown, the prime minister spoke Sunday by video link to a memorial for an anti-Syrian politician killed in a car bomb last year, and addressed the political climate and protests.
"What is the great cause for this tense political clamoring and the open sit-ins?" Siniora said. "Is this the ideal way to achieve demands, whatever they are?"
He said he was open to dialogue between his government and the opposition, and acknowledged that the political crisis threatened Lebanon's security, economy and political system.
"We don't want Lebanon to be an arena of the wars of others. Lebanon is a nation, not an arena," Siniora said, in a veiled reference to Hezbollah's backers in Syria and Iran.
Lebanese combat troops and armed police sealed off major roads and added more layers of barbed wire around the prime minister's sprawling downtown complex, where he has been living along with most of his ministers since December 1.
The political unrest has split the country along dangerous sectarian lines, with most Sunni Muslims supporting the Sunni prime minister and Shiite Muslims backing the militant group Hezbollah. Christian factions are split between the two camps.
Thousands of demonstrators camped out in two downtown Beirut squares overnight, and hundreds of thousands more joined the crowd for the afternoon demonstration. Several hundred tents have lined the area for more than a week.
Police had no immediate crowd estimates, but the rally - filling downtown Beirut's plazas and many neighborhoods - promised to be one of the biggest in Lebanon's history.
Protesters streamed downtown, waving Lebanese and Hezbollah flags as loudspeakers blasted anti-government speeches and anthems in support of the guerrilla group.
Bands of musicians pounded drums in a carnival-like atmosphere, while Hezbollah security agents wearing white caps fanned out in the crowd.
"Down with the corrupt government," read one banner. "We want a clean government," read another.
"We have come to show them how big our size really is," said Reem al-Zein, a 20-year-old philosophy student wearing a Muslim headscarf. "I think this lying government will not be able to last much longer after today."
Lebanon's political crisis began after talks over a national unity Cabinet collapsed, and Hezbollah's two ministers and four allies resigned from the Cabinet and joined the opposition. It erupted November 21 with the assassination of anti-Syrian politician Pierre Gemayel, followed by a national strike, his funeral and the opposition sit-in.
Street protests have since paralyzed the core of Beirut. A Shiite Muslim supporter of the opposition was shot dead in a Sunni Muslim neighborhood on his way home from protests a week ago.
Siniora has refused to quit and has received hundreds of supporters daily at his office complex to counter the opposition protests and sit-ins outside.
Tension had been brewing for months, and relations between the two camps deteriorated after the Israel-Hezbollah war last summer and a United Nations draft for the creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Hezbollah's fight against Israel sent its support among Shiites skyrocketing, emboldening it to grab more political power.
On Sunday, the crowd of protesters gathered under a giant banner depicting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice embracing Siniora on a visit to Beirut during the war. Written in English on it was: "Thanks Condy."