BEIRUT - One month after a breakthrough deal to end a long-running political crisis, Lebanon remains without a government as rival clans fight it out over key cabinet posts, raising fears of a renewed conflict. The euphoria that greeted the May election of new president Michel Sleiman and promises of a national unity government has been replaced by a growing sense of doom amid continued discord between the Western-backed majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition over who gets which post in the new cabinet.Even Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament speaker and opposition stalwart Nabih Berri, both of whom had initially said that the formation of the cabinet was a matter of days, are now speaking of obstacles that remain. "I cannot deny that we are going through a difficult phase but we are deploying all efforts to form a cabinet," Siniora said Wednesday after meeting with Sleiman.
Berri for his part also admitted the make-up of the new 30-member cabinet was hampered by divisions between the parties. Under the deal struck in the Qatari capital Doha on May 21, the opposition, which is backed by Syria and Iran, will get 11 seats in the new government, the majority will get 16 seats and the president will appoint three ministers. Negotiations between the various parties however have stumbled over who should head the key defence, interior, finance and foreign affairs ministries.
Opposition Christian leader Michel Aoun is insisting that Sleiman choose a candidate for only one, rather than two, of these so-called sovereign portfolios, a scenario rejected by the majority. He has also suggested that the prime minister's scope of authority be revised, prompting criticism even from within his own camp.
| He just never misses a chance to cause trouble, doesn't he ... |