New Cabinet in Lebanon vows to 'preserve stability'

A new 30-member national unity Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri was announced Sunday in Lebanon nearly two months after a new president was elected, and the premier vowed that his top priority would be to protect the country from the effects of the civil war in neighboring Syria.

The Cabinet includes most of the country's political groups, including the Shiite militant Hezbollah, which holds two seats. It was to hold its first meeting on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters shortly after the Cabinet was announced, Hariri said his government's priority would be to "preserve the stability that is prevailing in Lebanon amid fires that are spreading around the region."

He said his government would work to "isolate our country from the negative effects of the Syrian war" and would seek international help in dealing with the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who have fled into Lebanon.

The new 30-minister government led by Hariri brings together the entire political spectrum except for the Christian Phalangist party that rejected the portfolio it was offered

“This is a government of entente,” Hariri said of the new line-up formed six weeks after the election of President Michel Aoun.

New portfolios include an anti-corruption post and, for the first time, a minister of state for women’s affairs.

Hariri said the Phalangist party had been offered a minister of state post but had turned it down.

The new government will have “at the top of its list of priorities to preserve security against the fires ravaging our region,” Hariri told reporters.

He stressed that the government would act to “preserve our country from the negative consequences of the Syrian crisis”.

On November 3, former premier Hariri was nominated to form Lebanon’s next government, but the process was seen as likely to be hampered by deep differences with the powerful Hezbollah movement.

Hariri, 46, is anti-Syria and a fierce opponent of Lebanon’s influential Hezbollah, members of which have been accused by an international court of involvement in his father’s 2005 assassination.

But he was forced to throw his support behind Aoun, their candidate for the presidency, in order to secure his return to power as premier.

Hariri’s government will have two ministers from Hezbollah.

His nomination and Aoun’s election after a two-year vacuum have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees.

Hariri also announced the establishment of a state secretariat for refugees, and called on the international community “to take responsibility for helping our country bear the burden”.

Lebanon is due to hold parliamentary elections in May 2017, the first legislative vote in eight years.

The current parliament — elected in 2009 — has extended its own mandate twice amid fierce disagreements over revamping Lebanon’s electoral law.

“The government will also work on the preparation of a new electoral law,” Hariri said on Sunday.

The thorny issue divides religious parties and communities in a country where politics is based on parity between Christians and Muslims.

Hariri was nominated to form the government on November 3.

Cabinet line-up

- Ghassan Hasbani (Deputy PM and Health Minister, Lebanese Forces)

- Melhem Riachi (Information Minister, LF)

- Pierre Bou Assi (Social Affairs Minister, LF)

- Marwan Hamadeh (Education Minister, Progressive Socialist Party)

- Ayman Shqeir (State Minister for Human Rights, PSP)

- Talal Arslan (Minister of the Displaced, part of PSP's share)

- Ghazi Zoaiter (Agriculture Minister, AMAL Movement)

- Ali Hassan Khalil (Finance Minister, AMAL Movement)

- Michel Pharaon (State Minister for Planning Affairs)

- Ali Qansou (State Minister for Parliament Affairs, Syrian Social Nationalist Party)

- Mohammed Fneish (Sport and Youth Minister, Hezbollah)

- Hussein Al Hajj Hassan (Industry Minister, Hezbollah)

- Jean Oghassabian (State Minister for Women's Affairs, Al Mustaqbal Movement)

- Nouhad Al Mashnouq (Interior Minister, Mustaqbal)

- Mohammad Kabbara (Labor Minister, Mustaqbal)

- Jamal al-Jarrah (Telecommunications Minister, Mustaqbal)

- Moein Al Merehbi (State Minister for Refugee Affairs, Mustaqbal)

- Ghattas Khoury (Culture Minister, Mustaqbal)

- Yaaqoub al-Sarraf (Defense Minister, loyal to President Michel Aoun)

- Salim Jreissati (Justice Minister, loyal to President Michel Aoun)

- Jebran Bassil (Foreign Minister, Free Patriotic Movement)

- Pierre Raffoul (State Minister for Presidency Affairs, FPM)

- Cesar Abi Khalil (Energy and Water Minister, FPM)

- Nicola Tueni (State Minister for Combating Corruption)

- Tareq Al Khatib (Environment Minister)

- Enaya Ezzeddine (State Minister for Administrative Development)

- Youssef Finianos (Public Works and Transport Minister, Marada Movement)

- Raed Khoury (Economy Minister)

- Ouadis Kedenian (Tourism Minister)

source : gulfnews