Region
Fury as Lebanon gets Hezbollah-backed PM
Fury as Lebanon gets Hezbollah-backed PM
AFP/Beirut
Supporters of outgoing premier Saad al-Hariri throw stones at soldiers in Beirut yesterday |
President Michel Suleiman asked the billionaire Sunni tycoon to form a government amid a "day of rage” by fellow Sunnis who blocked roads and burned tyres in anger at his nomination, prompting Washington and France to voice concern.
Mikati shortly after his appointment rejected attempts to cast him as "Hezbollah’s man” and said he would co-operate with all Lebanese in a bid to form an inclusive government.
"Don’t prejudge me or my behaviour, please, especially the international community,” the 55-year-old billionaire businessman said in an interview at his Beirut home.
"I say in all honesty that my nomination by Hezbollah does not mean I am bound by any of their political positions except as concerns the protection of the national resistance,” he said, referring to the Shia militant party’s struggle against neighbouring Israel.
Mikati, who is close to Syria and is considered a moderate, earlier told reporters that he would reach out to all parties in forming his government.
"I will co-operate fully with all Lebanese to form a new government that protects their unity and sovereignty,” he said.
"Nothing justifies the refusal of any political party to participate,” he said. "My hand is extended to all Lebanese.”
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah echoed the point in a speech transmitted via video link to thousands of supporters in the eastern town of Baalbeck.
"The new government will not be a Hezbollah government nor will it be led by Hezbollah ... We don’t want power,” he said.
"If you refuse to take part that means you want to monopolise power.”
Protests had turned violent in the northern Sunni bastion of Tripoli, where frenzied demonstrators torched an Al Jazeera van and ransacked offices of a local Sunni lawmaker who backed Mikati.
Demonstrators also blocked roads in several other areas, including the capital Beirut, the southern coastal city of Sidon and the eastern Bekaa region.
There were no immediate reports of any casualties, a security official said.
Mikati’s appointment has angered Sunnis who see it as a bid by the Iran- and Syria-backed Hezbollah to sideline outgoing premier Saad al-Hariri and impose its will in Lebanon.
According to Lebanon’s power-sharing system, the country’s prime minister must be a Sunni.
"I am a Sunni Muslim and I refuse to allow anyone to impose their candidate for premiership on our community,” said Um Khodr, 50, who was among thousands of demonstrators in Tripoli.
"We will remain in the streets until the traitor Mikati leaves the post.”
Rana Fatfat, a 35-year-old attorney, denounced "Hezbollah’s arrogance” toward the Sunni community.
"They are taking us for idiots,” she said. "We will fight them through sit-ins and peaceful protests because we cannot match their military might.”
Schools shut down in Tripoli, Sidon and other areas amid fears of violence but the protests died down by early evening.
An army spokesman said that troops would react firmly to any attempts to block roads today.
Hezbollah and its allies brought down the government of the Western-backed Hariri on January 12 after a long-running standoff over a UN-backed probe into the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri, Saad’s father.
The militant party has said it believes some of its members will be indicted by the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which it has denounced as part of a US-Israeli conspiracy.
The US, which continues to blacklist Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation, warned that a Hezbollah-controlled government would affect bilateral ties.
"A Hezbollah-controlled government would clearly have an impact on our bilateral relationship,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters.
She said Washington was following "closely and carefully” developments in Beirut and harboured "deep concerns about the influence of outside forces.”
Former colonial power France expressed "concern for the stability” of Lebanon and called for Mikati to form a government without outside "interference.”
"It is essential that it is done within the framework of the constitution .... and reflects the independent and sovereign choice of the Lebanese people, without any interference and through dialogue,” a foreign ministry statement said.