BEIRUT: The parliamentary Future bloc is ready to attend National Dialogue only after the formation of a new Cabinet, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Tuesday. “Priority should be given to the Cabinet formation.
National Dialogue comes after the Cabinet formation,” Siniora, head of the Future bloc, told The Daily Star.
He spoke shortly after chairing the weekly meeting of the bloc which welcomed President Michel Sleiman’s call for National Dialogue to discuss the divisive issue of Hezbollah’s arms, but stressed that the formation of a new Cabinet should be given priority.
Siniora headed a Future bloc delegation to the Saudi city of Jeddah where they held talks with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. The talks focused on difficulties facing premier-designate Tammam Salam in his attempts to form a new Cabinet and fresh calls for Dialogue between March 8 and March 14 leaders aimed at defusing political and sectarian tensions fueled by the civil war in Syria.
Siniora said Hariri supported an inter-Lebanese dialogue after the Cabinet formation.
He briefed the bloc members on the talks held with Hariri as well as his meeting Tuesday with President Michel Sleiman before the latter left on a private visit to the United States.
“The bloc welcomes the tendency toward National Dialogue along with the formation of a new Cabinet headed by Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam. The bloc considers dialogue as a favorite means to deal with and stay in contact with the partners in the nation, especially in these dangerous and fateful circumstances at the local and regional levels through whichLebanon is passing,” said a statement issued after the bloc’s meeting.
It said the bloc supported dialogue to discuss the problem of Hezbollah’s arms and other issues related to it. “For this purpose, the bloc will hold necessary consultations with March 14 allies in order to reach a unified stance in this respect,” the statement said.
The bloc said priority should be given to the urgent formation of a new Cabinet to address the citizens’ worsening socio-economic conditions which reached “alarming limits.”
“In this respect, the bloc reiterates its adherence to the formation of a nonpartisan Cabinet in order for the government to be able to tackle the outstanding and necessary problems,” the statement said.
Referring to previous dialogue sessions, the bloc stressed the importance of implementing and abiding by decisions taken in the past, particularly the “Baabda Declaration.”
The declaration, agreed by March 8 and March 14 leaders during a National Dialogue session in Baabda in June last year, calls for distancing Lebanon from regional and international conflicts, particularly the conflict in Syria.
March 14 parties have accused Hezbollah of violating the declaration with its heavy involvement in Syria, where party fighters have joined forces loyal to President Bashar Assad in the battle against armed rebels seeking to topple the regime.
The bloc urged Hezbollah to abide by the “Baabda Declaration.” It reiterated its call on Hezbollah to withdraw all its fighters from Syria, hand over four party members implicated in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and “halt all external security and military activities and involvements.”
The bloc’s statement appeared to uphold Salam as prime minister for now despite Speaker Nabih Berri’s call on Hariri to return to Lebanon.
Hariri, head of the Future Movement, has not so far commented on calls for the resumption of National Dialogue made separately last week by Sleiman and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.
Nor did Hariri, who has been living out of Lebanon for more than two years for security reasons, comment on Berri’s call to return to Lebanon and nominate himself to the premiership.
However, members of his parliamentary bloc dismissed Berri’s call for Hariri to nominate himself as a new prime minister as “a maneuver,” and reiterated support for Salam.
Future MP Ahmad Fatfat, who attended the Jeddah talks, said Hariri did not set a deadline for Salam to form the next Cabinet and warned against forming a national unity government.
“The current situation requires a nonpartisan government because any national unity Cabinet, if formed, will lead to the same result: a big failure,” Fatfat told OTV.
Asked to comment regarding Berri’s call on Hariri to run for the premiership, Fatfat said in another interview with MTV: “Is it required of [former] Prime Minister Saad Hariri to come to head the Cabinet in order to provide a political cover to Hezbollah in its intervention in Syria? Hariri is the one who decides when to head the Cabinet.”
Meanwhile, Sleiman left Tuesday for a private visit to the United States, a statement from the president’s office said.
Sources in Baabda Palace told The Daily Star that the president would undergo medical checkups in the U.S.
