Lebanonwire.com | Lebanon PM-designate pledges sweeping reforms

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June 30, 2005

Lebanon PM-designate pledges sweeping reforms
by Henri Mamarbachi

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon's anti-Syrian former finance minister Fuad Siniora, named Thursday to head the first government of the post-Syria era, pledged to try to reunite the country and embark on across-the-board reforms.

Pro-Damascus President Emile Lahoud agreed to designate 62-year-old Siniora, a close ally of slain ex-premier and billionaire tycoon Rafiq Hariri, after all but two MPs nominated him for the prime minister's post.

The move came as fresh violence erupted on the country's southern border with Israel, underscoring the tough challenges facing the new government two months after Syria ended its three-decade military presence.

Siniora told reporters after his nomination he was committed to carrying out social and economic reforms and to following the path of Hariri "no matter the difficulties and the sacrifices."

"It is not the time for political divisions," said Siniora, Hariri's faithful right-hand man in both business and politics. "We extend a hand to everyone to go forward on a programme of global reforms."

Another priority for the government was to uncover the truth about the assassination of Hariri in a February bomb blast and subsequent killings of an anti-Syrian journalist and a veteran communist politician, he said.

Many in Lebanon have blamed Syria and its allies in the Beirut regime for the killings, which have deeply shaken a country still trying to heal the scars of the 1975-1990 civil war.

On reforms, Siniora said he wanted to fight corruption, adopt a new electoral law and gradually get rid of Lebanon's sectarian political system, strengthen the independence of the judiciary and decentralise government administration.

"Lebanon has paid dearly to win its freedom and build a democratic and sovereign state. It is a battle we all face. We can only make up for lost opportunities if all Lebanese are in solidarity."

The majority group in parliament headed by Hariri's son Saad on Wednesday had named Siniora as its candidate following Lebanon's four-round elections that wrapped up earlier this month.

Hariri was killed on February 14 in a huge car bomb explosion in Beirut that plunged Lebanon into political turmoil and heightened the pressure on Damascus over its dominant role in its smaller neighbour.

Lahoud, a Damascus protege, is himself facing calls to quit over the string of bombings and political assassinations. His term was controversially extended by three years under a Syrian-inspired constitutional amendment in September.

Siniora, finance minister in five governments headed by Rafiq Hariri between 1992 and 2004, was dramatically cleared in 2003 of charges of financial mismanagement and corruption.

Under Lebanon's sectarian system, the post of prime minister is reserved for the Sunni Muslim community.

In fresh violence Thursday, Israel launched an air raid on positions of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah after its troops fired on militiamen in a disputed border area

An Israeli soldier was killed on Wednesday in a Hezbollah attack after a period of relative calm on the tenseborder.

The escalation of violence comes as Israel is preparing for its Gaza Strip withdrawal and is seen by some as a message from the Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah to the new government that it will not get rid of its weapons despite international demands.

On Tuesday, Lebanese MPs re-elected Nabih Berri, a prominent pro-Syrian Shiite, as speaker at the inaugural session of the first parliament since the war not controlled by pro-Damascus factions.

Syria, which has wielded the political and military clout in Lebanon since the war, pulled out the final troops from its smaller neighbour in April in the face of strong domestic and international pressure.

UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which called for an end to the presence of foreign troops on Lebanon's soil, also calls for the dismantling of militias. That is a thorny issue in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is still regarded as a legitimate resistance to Israel.