20 seconds ago 2009-12-04T09:25:02-08:00
BEIRUT (AFP) – The Lebanese press on Tuesday welcomed Prime Minister Saad Hariri's new unity government but doubted he would be able to tackle the deep rifts between his camp and the rival Hezbollah-led opposition.
"Government of the two trenches," read the front-page headline in the daily Al-Akhbar, which is close to the opposition.
It referred to Hariri's US- and Saudi-backed alliance, which won a general election in June, and the opposing Hezbollah-led camp backed by Syria and Iran.
As-Safir daily, also close to the opposition, said Hariri's government announced late on Monday mirrors all of the country's complexities and woes.
"It is a government of contradictions, which either contains a time-bomb waiting to explode or will be able to rule until the end of its mandate," it said in an editorial.
Dailies close to the Hariri-led majority hailed his success in forming a government after more than four months of arduous talks with his rivals.
"At last, at last, a government 'for Lebanon'," read the front-page headline in An-Nahar. "A Nobel for patience for Saad Hariri," was the verdict in an opinion column in the Arabic-language daily.
But the daily also warned that long-running disagreements between the rival camps would hinder the government's ability to rule.
Politicians and media alike on Tuesday questioned how the new government would handle controversial issues such as the arsenal of Shiite militant group Hezbollah, the only party not to relinquish its weapons after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
Discontent also surfaced from within the Hariri camp with reports that the Christian Kataeb party, whose demand for the education ministry was not met, was threatening to withdraw from the alliance in protest.
Some analysts are even predicting a breakdown in the majority, or "March 14," alliance.
Al-Akhbar columnist Ibrahim al-Amin dubbed the new cabinet "the March 14 divorce government."
"The March 14 Christians are fully aware that they make no difference on the issue of Hezbollah's arms," Amin wrote. "And this time they will find they are alone in their demands."
Another pillar of the Hariri alliance, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, distanced himself from the majority after the June 7 election and has slammed his Christian allies as "right-wing isolationists."
Saad Hariri, son of murdered former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, announced the formation of his new government on Monday.
The 30-member line-up includes 15 ministers from Hariri's bloc and 10 from the opposition. The remaining five were appointed by President Michel Sleiman, and include the key portfolios of interior and defence.
The share-out means that no party will have veto power in the new government and that Sleiman will play the role of arbiter.
Hezbollah, which fought a devastating 2006 war with Israel, has two ministers in the new cabinet. Party representatives have been in Lebanese governments since 2005.
In 2006, all Shiite ministers resigned, stripping the cabinet of all Shiite representation and effectively paralysing governance for a year and a half.
