Beirut, February 28: Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said Sunday that he would mull other options with President Michel Sleiman if the March 14 coalition decided not to participate in his government.
Mikati spoke a few hours before the March 14 groups announced that they will not participate in his government and will go to the opposition.
Commenting on the March 14 camp’s expected decision to boycott his government, Mikati said, “My firm position is to call on all [parties] to participate in the government. This participation does not belong to me personally as much as it is necessary to resurrect the country and its institutions and cooperate to solve the many problems we are suffering from.”
He added that one of the options he has in mind was to form a government comprising the March 8 and March 14 groups together. “But if the March 14 team decided to boycott, I will study with the president the other available options and choose the best for the country’s interest,” Mikati said.
Mikati also again vowed not to quit his efforts to form a new government despite major obstacles facing him, saying his nomination to the premiership was designed to prevent sectarian strife over a U.N.-backed court probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Addressing sheikhs, preachers and civil society organizations at a hotel in Tripoli at the end of a three-day visit to his home city, Mikati said the formation of a Cabinet of technocrats was the last resort. “My original desire is the formation of a Cabinet of technocrats. But this choice is left as a last resort,” Mikati said. “The principle on which I based my nomination is to prevent strife in the country. If we do not guarantee in advance that the Cabinet of technocrats will win the Parliament’s confidence, we will fall into strife again.”
Mikati made his first visit to Tripoli Friday since he was appointed to form a new government on Jan. 25 to replace caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Cabinet that was toppled by the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance on Jan. 12 in a long-simmering feud over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. The STL is expected to make its indictment into Hariri’s killing public soon, raising fears of sectarian strife, especially if it implicates some Hezbollah members as it is widely assumed to do.
In another statement Saturday, speaking during an enlarged meeting with the heads of municipalities in the northern province at his residence in Tripoli, Mikati vowed not to step down despite the difficulties facing his attempts to form the government.
“Yes, we are today facing some difficulties in the formation of the government. But I can assure you that irrespective of the difficulties, you can rest assured that no one except me will form the government because this is what the Constitution calls for,” he said.
More than a month after his appointment, Mikati’s efforts to form a new government have hit snags, mainly over Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s tough demands for a large Christian representation in the government, including the key Interior Ministry portfolio.
The March 14 groups’ talks with Mikati on their possible participation in the government have failed after he rejected their demands to make a public commitment not to end Lebanon’s cooperation with the STL.
Taking a direct swipe at Hariri, who has accused some lawmakers of betrayal for supporting Mikati, the prime minister-designate said, “You must have heard a lot of statements about betrayal. Don’t pay attention to these statements which are baseless. You were a witness to our work in 2005 when I assumed the premiership and until today.”
Mikati, who has come under fire by March 14 politicians and Hariri’s Future MPs since his appointment, accusing him of coming to power through a Hezbollah-orchestrated coup, said he will avoid engaging in political rhetoric.
“We don’t want to enter into any political bickering. We have our principles and goals. But we do not want strife to enter our house. Therefore, we have to avoid any provocation. Let’s concentrate on the positive side and stay away from the negative side,” he said.
Mikati expressed regret that his extended hand gesture toward the March 14 groups had been met negatively. “Nonetheless, we hear some [March 14 figures] warning against a one-sided government. Yes, I am fully aware of the gravity of a one-sided government because Lebanon cannot be governed except by diversity and with the participation of all segments of the society,” Mikati said. “Therefore, I call on all [parties] to join the government.”
Referring to his speech in Tripoli Friday in which he said he supported the truth and justice in the investigation of Hariri’s assassination, Mikati said, “We were surprised today with a statement attributed to a source in the [March 14] team, which calls itself the new opposition, in which he says that they are fed up with the stony language. Did justice and the truth become a stony language?”
——–Agencies