Hussein Dakroub – The Daily Star
Caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil Monday scrambled in a last-ditch attempt to promote an initiative aimed at resolving the issue of representing six pro-Hezbollah Sunni MPs in the new government, political sources said.
Besides dashing hopes for the Cabinet formation at any time soon, the issue is threatening to throw the country into further political turmoil following Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s escalatory tone and insistence that the six Sunni lawmakers not affiliated with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri’s Future Movement be represented in the next government.
Bassil launched a flurry of intensified activity that included separate meetings with Speaker Nabih Berri, Hariri and one of the six Sunni MPs.
The talks came on the eve of a news conference planned by the premier-designate to respond to Nasrallah’s escalation on the Cabinet formation process, which has entered its sixth month of deadlock.
“Bassil’s initiative calls for naming a compromise Sunni candidate as a minister in the new Cabinet who would be part of President Michel Aoun’s share and acceptable to both Hariri and the six Sunni MPs,” a political source familiar with the formation process told The Daily Star.
The source said Bassil discussed with the leaders he had met “ideas” designed to resolve the problem of the six Sunni MPs’ representation.
According to the source, the solution being worked out by Bassil to the “Sunni knot” is similar to that for the problem of Druze representation, when Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Joumblatt, who had initially insisted on naming the three ministers assigned to the Druze sect, later accepted that the third Druze minister be neutral and acceptable to him and his Druze rival, MP Talal Arslan.The source said Bassil, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, was acting at Aoun’s request following the president’s meeting last Friday with the six independent Sunni parliamentarians who reiterated their demand to be represented in the new government.
The FPM leader had already discussed his initiative last Friday with Nasrallah who, despite his escalatory tone, had left “a window” open to finding a solution to the problem when he said that Hezbollah would agree to any decision accepted by the six Sunni MPs regarding their participation in the government.
The source said Bassil’s shuttle moves were also aimed at averting fresh political escalation that would further complicate the Cabinet formation process ahead of Hariri’s news conference.
During the news conference, set to be held at his Downtown Beirut residence at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, “Hariri is expected to rebut Nasrallah’s accusations that he [Hariri] was using Sunni religious and political leaders to rally support for his Cabinet formation efforts,” a source close to the premier-designate told The Daily Star.
“Hariri will also reiterate his refusal to cede a seat from the Future Movement’s share to any of the six independent Sunni MPs,” the source said.
Hariri, who returned from a nearly two-week visit to France overnight Monday, attended Parliament’s morning legislative session that passed a series of draft laws, including loans for the expansion of Tripoli Port.
Before he chaired the session, Berri met at his office with Hariri, discussing the difficulties facing the Cabinet formation following Nasrallah’s tough rhetoric and a possible solution to the problem.
Later in the afternoon, Hariri met at his residence with Bassil, discussing with him political developments, particularly those related to the Cabinet formation issue, a statement from Hariri’s media office said. Discussions apparently continued over a lunch hosted by Hariri.
Bassil did not speak to reporters after the meeting.
Ahead of his talks with Hariri, Bassil met with Berri in Parliament after the morning session was adjourned until 6 p.m., and discussed his proposal to resolve the issue of the six Sunni MPs’ representation.
Bassil said all political sides are invited to help resolve the issue.
“Every side should contribute toward resolving the problem. Regardless of whether it is an inter-Sunni hurdle or a Sunni-Shiite hurdle, this is a national hurdle that prevents the formation of a national unity government.
“We are all responsible for resolving it,” Bassil told reporters after the meeting with Berri.
He called for avoiding any sectarian tensions as a result of this problem and maintaining national unity.
He said the three parties concerned with finding a solution to the problem are the Future Movement, Hezbollah and the “Consultative Gathering,” a reference to the six independent Sunni MPs.
“This Consultative Gathering has its political and popular base that no one can deny. It also has its parliamentary standing,” he said.
Bassil said he has some suggestions for resolving the problem, but stressed that “any solution based on Hariri stepping down as PM-designate wouldn’t be right.”
“The solution to the Cabinet formation should be based on fair representation. In our view, the criterion for this is a national unity government without any component monopolizing representation,” he said.
During the Parliament’s evening session, Bassil also met on the sidelines of the meeting with Tripoli MP Faisal Karami, one of the six “independent” Sunni MPs, where he discussed with him his proposal to resolve the problem of their representation.
Bassil said he expected a new government to be formed soon, saying the hurdles to its formation were not “external,” local media quoted him as saying after the evening session in Parliament.
He added that he will also meet with Joumblatt as part of his contacts to resolve the problem of the six Sunni MPs’ representation.
Karami had earlier said that there had been no change in the six Sunni MPs’ demand to be represented in the new Cabinet.
He added that so far no meeting between the six MPs and Hariri had been scheduled.
