Lebanon cabinet "progress" says Seniora as decision again delayed

Middle East News

Jul 5, 2008, 14:08 GMT

Beirut - Progress has been achieved in negotiations on a national unity cabinet in Lebanon but it will not be formed over the weekend, Prime Minister-designate Fouad Seniora said Saturday. 'There will be no cabinet on Saturday, but progress I can say has been achieved and we are moving on,' Seniora said after meeting with Christian opposition leader General Michel Aoun. 'I can say a tentative agreement has been reached on the distribution of seats in the new national unity cabinet,' Seniora told reporters at Aoun's residence. Progress was reported following contacts Friday involving Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber al-Thani, Seniora and Lebanese House Speaker Nabih Berri. According to sources close to Seniora, Aoun's Change and Reform parliamentary Bloc would get the portfolios of telecommunications, power, agriculture and social affairs in addition to the post of vice premier. The sources said Aoun had agreed to this, and relayed his decision to Seniora during a lunch he hosted at his residence. The agreement finally ended differences between the March 14 majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition on the distribution of cabinet seats, observers said. Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea reportedly told President Michel Suleiman Friday that his party was interested in the justice portfolio among other cabinet seats. Observers said it remained to be seen whether Geagea's party, regarded as having suffered judicial oppression in the early 1990s, would get the job of guiding justice in a nation waiting for an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes. Sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the delay in forming the new cabinet - 'probably until Monday' - was because the rival parties needed more time to issue a joint cabinet policy statement. Lebanon's US-backed majority coalition, and the opposition led by the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah, signed a Qatari-brokered deal in Doha on May 21 that pulled the country from the brink of a new civil war.

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Lebanon cabinet "progress" says Seniora as decision again delayed

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