Regional summit may delay P.M. showdown

BEIRUT: Lebanons political divisions appeared set to deepen Monday as the country prepared for a fierce battle over the prime ministers post after the March 8 coalition decided to name former Prime Minister Omar Karami as a rival candidate to try and oust caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

A political source, however, said President Michel Sleiman might at the last minute postpone binding parliamentary consultations set to start at noon Monday to give regional leaders meeting in Syria later in the day time to exert efforts to ease tension between the rival factions in Beirut.

M.P. Suleiman Franjieh told Al-Jadid television Sunday night that M.P.s of the March 8 coalition would name Karami as its choice for prime minister during the consultations.

Earlier in the day, Hariris parliamentary Future bloc and its allies in the rival March 14 camp nominated Hariri as their only candidate for premier amid rising political tensions following the collapse of Hariris national unity Cabinet last week and the imminent release of a U.N.-backed courts indictment into the 2005 assassination of Hariris father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The result of the consultations with the 128-member Parliament, which end Tuesday, is far from certain. The rival camps have around 58 or 59 M.P.s each with M.P. Walid Jumblatt holding the decisive vote with his 11 lawmakers. Jumblatt has not announced whom he his bloc will nominate.

The rival factions battle for the premiership came amid a flurry of regional diplomatic activity aimed at defusing tension in Lebanon and helping the feuding parties to agree on a new Cabinet.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Damascus Monday to discuss with Syrian and Qatari leaders on how to help prevent Lebanon sliding further into crisis, a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Hariri visited Ankara last week to seek support from Erdogan after the collapse of his Cabinet. Turkey, like other states in the region, fears ins! tability in Lebanon could have consequences in the wider region.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said his group and its March 8 allies would not name Hariri to form a new Cabinet during Mondays consultations. The opposition unanimously will not name Hariri tomorrow as their candidate for premier, Nasrallah said in a televised speech Sunday night. He said political leaders faced a big national and historic responsibility in choosing a new prime minister.

Hariris Cabinet collapsed last week after Hizbullah and its allies resigned in a dispute over the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanons impending indictment into Rafik Hariris killing. The indictment, to be issued early this week, is widely expected to accuse some Hizbullah members of involvement in Hariris killing, raising fears of sectarian violence. The S.T.L. has been at the root of long-simmering tensions between the March 8 and March 14 camps.

Franjieh, an ally of Hizbullah, warned of political assassinations that would lead to sectarian strife as a result of the S.T.L.s indictment and the Cabinet crisis. We are heading for security incidents that would lead to strife, he told AL-Jadid TV.

Hariris parliamentary Future bloc decided during a meeting Sunday to nominate Hariri to head the new government at the consultations, according to a statement read by M.P. Atef Majdalani after the meeting. Majdalani said the bloc has decided to keep its meetings open in view of the current government crisis.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly discussed Lebanons crisis with Hariri and reiterated Washingtons call on rival factions to maintain calm. We urge all the parties in Lebanon to work together to find a solution for the numerous issues that face the Lebanese people, Connelly said in a statement after meeting Hariri. It is now more important than ever that all sides commit to constructive dialogue and avoid escalating tensions in the country. She said she discussed with Hariri his meeting last week with President Bar! ack Obam a in the U.S. She renewed U.S. support for the S.T.L. and criticized Hizbullah and its allies for bringing down the Cabinet.

We discussed the importance of the S.T.L. and its continuing work to assist the Lebanese people put their tragic and bloody history of political violence behind them once and for all, Connelly said. The tribunal is an independent, international judicial process whose work is not subject to political influence either from inside Lebanon or from outside. The efforts by the Hizbullah-led coalition to collapse the Lebanese government only demonstrate their own fear and determination to undermine Lebanons sovereignty and independence.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke by telephone with Sleiman Saturday to discuss the situation in Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported. Clinton said the U.S. stood on Lebanons side at this time according to what the Lebanese decide for themselves, the N.N.A. said.

Sleiman said rival Lebanese factions would eventually be able to reach a solution for the political crisis through dialogue and resort to constitutional rules, the N.N.A. reported.

Speaker Nabih Berri said in remarks published Sunday he would not name Hariri for prime minister unless he complied with the Saudi-Syrian efforts to resolve the Lebanese crisis. In an interview with the Saudi newspaper Ash-Sharq al-Awsat, Berri said the Saudi-Syrian initiative, which reached a dead end last week, still provided a chance for a solution for Lebanons crisis.

Following the collapse of Hariris Cabinet, Berri said Lebanon has entered a caretaker stage that would not end in the near future whether Hariri was reappointed to form a new cabinet or the opposition named another candidate. We have entered a tunnel whose beginning we know but whose end we dont see, Berri said. He added that he was still convinced the Lebanese crisis could be solved by the Saudi-Syrian efforts. He stressed the importance of forming a national unity Cabinet, saying tha! t he had preferred from the beginning that such a cabinet be headed by Hariri. But after what happened, we need him [Hariri] to confirm his commitment to the Saudi-Syrian efforts, he said.

Free Patriotic Movement leader M.P. Michel Aoun, who is allied with Hizbullah, said legislators who name Hariri for premier during Mondays consultations would be supporting corruption and false testimony. In an address to the M.P.s, Aoun told a news conference in Rabieh, anyone who stands on Hariris side will be standing on the side of corruption and false testimony.

In the atmosphere of forfeiture and financial corruption, we cannot accept the continuation of the same pattern in government, Aoun said.

Jumblatt, who held talks on the Lebanese crisis with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus Saturday, met with Berri Sunday to discuss the latest developments, the N.N.A. said.

The Grand Mufti of the Lebanese Republic, Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, has come out in support of Hariris nomination as prime minister in what seemed to be a warning to the March 8 coalition against naming another candidate. The formation by Prime Minister Saad Hariri of the next government is in the interest of all of Lebanon.