Lebanese politician
Tammam Salam was named prime minister on Saturday after he won a sweeping
parliamentary endorsement, pledging to bridge the country's deep divisions and
shield it from the dangers of neighboring Syria's civil war.
Salam was designated
after the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, whose two years in office
were dominated by efforts to contain sectarian tensions, violence and economic
fallout from the Syrian conflict.
His immediate task, if
he is able to form a Cabinet accepted by Lebanon's rival political forces, will
be to prepare for a parliamentary election which is due in June but faces
delay.
The Syrian bloodshed
has exacerbated tensions in Lebanon, which fought a ruinous civil war from 1975
to 1990. Rival Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim and Christian politicians have failed
to agree an electoral system under which the vote will take place.
In his first comments
after his appointment, Salam said he would seek to "unite opinion and
reach speedy agreement on a parliamentary electoral law to achieve fair
representation for all citizens and sects."
He also pledged to
focus on "ending Lebanon's political divisions and its impact on the
security situation, and averting the dangers from the neighboring tragedy [in
Syria]."
Salam, born in 1945
into a prominent Sunni political dynasty, is close to the Saudi- and
Western-backed March 14 coalition but was chosen as a consensus candidate
acceptable to the March 8 bloc, which includes the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and
its mainly Shi'ite and Christian allies.
March 14 groups mainly
Sunni and Christian parties which pushed, with U.S. and European support, for
Syria to end nearly three decades of military presence in Lebanon in 2005.
Referring to
speculation over whether his government should be a short-term technocratic
administration focused only on preparing for elections, or a "national
unity" government with longer-term ambition, Salam said: "I will
absolutely strive to form a government of national benefit."
Shifting
power
In a sign of shifting
foreign influence in Lebanon, whose politicians lived in the shadow of Damascus
long after President Bashar al-Assad withdrew his army eight years ago, Salam's
elevation appear to owe much to Saudi intervention.
Druze leader Walid
Jumblatt, whose announcement on Thursday that he backed March 14's nomination
guaranteed Salam a parliamentary majority, said he reached his decision after
talks with Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan.
Despite the
overwhelming support for Salam - he was backed by at least 120 of 128
parliamentarians - he may face a lengthy struggle to form a government. His
predecessor, Mikati, took five months assemble a ministerial team and a March 8
source said Salam could also take months to put together a Cabinet.
He has to satisfy
conflicting demands for portfolios amid a heightened political standoff over
the Syrian crisis.
March 14 strongly
supports the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels battling to overthrow Assad in a
conflict which the United Nations says has killed 70,000 people. Another
400,000 refugees have poured into Lebanon, a country of just 4 million.
March 8 has backed Assad's
campaign to crush the uprising, which began with mainly peaceful protests but
descended into a civil war which has reduced parts of its main cities to
rubble.
Lebanon itself has been
shaken by the violence, which has spilled across the border into the Bekaa
Valley and inflamed tensions in the northern city of Tripoli between Sunni
Muslims who actively support the Syrian rebels and members of Assad's minority
Alawite community.
Dozens of people have
been killed in the northern city of Tripoli in waves of street fighting
since 2011.
Before his resignation,
Mikati called for international aid to help Lebanon deal with the impact of the
ever-growing number of refugees. President Michel Suleiman called this week for
refugee camps to be set up inside Syria itself, under United Nations auspices,
to ease the burden on Syria's neighbors.
Salam, a Cabinet
minister from 2008 to 2009, is the son of former prime minister Saeb Salam. His
grandfather served under the Ottoman Empire and the French colonial mandate.
Sources :
http://www.voanews.com/content/lebanon-president-asks-salam-to-form-government/1636062.html
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