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By Majdoline Hatoum
Daily Star staff
Friday, June 24, 2005
BEIRUT: Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition, which
swept parliamentary elections this month,
declared President Emile Lahoud responsible
for the series of political assassinations
that have rocked the country over the past
five months and demanded he step down.
During a closing statement at the opposition's
Bristol meeting, leading opposition member and
former Jbeil MP Fares Soueid said: "The
president's departure would be a leading path
to law and justice. He [Lahoud] is providing
protection for the existing political security
system and is responsible for its acts."
He added: "This series of terrorist acts began
with the violation of the Constitution by
extending the president's term, and it has one
possible end: the impeachment of the
president."
But the coalition failed to discuss imminent
issues, including naming a speaker, which is
supposed to take place during Parliament's
first session on Tuesday.
Talking to The Daily Star, opposition MP Wael
Bou Faour said the gathering preferred to
postpone discussing these issues to a later
date.
He said: "Today's Bristol Meeting was called
to discuss the assassination of George Hawi.
Other issues will be discussed in separate
meetings in the next couple of days."
The anti-Syrian coalition has still not
decided on who will be the next speaker, with
Christian opposition Qornet Shehwan Gathering
members refusing to vote for former Speaker
Nabih Berri, and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt,
a key political ally of Saad Hariri,
announcing recently that he will vote for
Berri.
The coalition, which won 72 seats in the 128
member Parliament, is yet to determine whether
it can succeed in forcing Lahoud out and just
how long it will stay united once the assembly
begins meeting on Tuesday.
The opposition coalition, which met to discuss
the assassination of anti-Syrian politician
George Hawi in
Beirut earlier this week, also called for a
general strike later today in protest of the
killing.
Hawi was the second anti-Syrian figure to be
assassinated in less than 20 days. Newspaper
columnist Samir Kassir was killed on June 2 in
a similar attack.
The opposition meeting witnessed the
participation of a wide range of politicians,
including participation for the first time by
Sidon MP Bahia Hariri, sister of the late
Premier Rafik Hariri, whose February 14
assassination sparked huge anti-Syrian
protests resulting in the withdrawal of Syrian
forces from
Lebanon.
Hariri, who left before the meeting ended,
said: "We are looking forward to a new stage
of Lebanese politics, free from stress and
sectarian agitation."
She added: "Saad Hariri's initiative to reach
out to other political figures is another
assurance of our commitment to the rebuilding
of
Lebanon."
Another opposition meeting also took place
during the day between Zghorta MP Nayla
Mouawad and Lebanese Forces MPs headed by
Strida Geagea, wife of jailed LF leader Samir
Geagea at Mouawad's house where they discussed
the general political situation following the
elections.
The issue of Geagea's release is to be
discussed by Parliament once it starts
convening.
Another issue to be addressed will be the
dismantling of the joint Lebanese-Syrian
intelligence apparatus, which the opposition
accuses of masterminding the recent
assassinations in the country.
Opposition Samir Franjieh said: "The
Lebanese-Syrian security apparatus is still
working on Lebanese territories, and Hawi's
assassination is evidence of that. The way to
end it is through political change, which
should start through forming a new
government."
Franjieh also stressed the need to impeach
Lahoud.
But former Premier Salim al-Hoss criticized
calls for Lahoud to step down, insisting if
the opposition want such an outcome, they will
have to seek it "through democratic ways,
through Parliament."
In the meantime, fears that others opposition
figures will be assassinated continued with
Jumblatt appealing to the Druze community
during a television interview late Wednesday
night, to "remain sensible and calm" if he is
assassinated. Jumblatt fears he may be next on
a hit list of prominent Lebanese figures, that
the
U.S. claims to have been drawn up by Syrian
intelligence.
In reference to massacres of Christian
villagers in
Mount Lebanon
following his father's assassination almost 30
years ago, Jumblatt said: "This is my last
will and testament, no to agitation and no to
what happened on
March 16, 1977."
Jumblatt also said he will discuss the issue
of naming a new speaker with Hariri, adding
that he is ready to support the candidacy of
"whoever the Shiite sect agree upon, whether
it is current Speaker Nabih Berri or someone
from Hizbullah."
But he added there was an international
consensus to reject the re-election of Berri
to the post. |
