Lebanon gets new national unity government

Line-up includes 15 ministers from Hariri's bloc, 10 from opposition, 5 appointed by president.

BEIRUT - Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri formed a government of national unity on Monday, ending more than four months of tough negotiations with his Hezbollah-led rivals.

The winning alliance headed by Hariri won 71 seats in the 128-member parliament in the election against 57 for the opposition led by Hezbollah.

The Hezbollah opposition had actually secured the majority (52%) of the votes in Lebanon, but could not secure a majority of Parliamentary seats (it won 45%) because of the nature of the sectarian government system in the country.

"Finally, a government of national unity is born," Hariri told reporters after a presidential decree announcing the new cabinet line-up was announced. "We have turned a new page and there is no turning back."

"I want to be honest from the start: this government can be a chance to renew faith in the state and its institutions ... or it can turn into a replay of our failures."

The new line-up includes 15 ministers from Hariri's bloc and 10 from the opposition.

The remaining five ministers were appointed by President Michel Sleiman, including the holders of the key interior and defence portfolios.

Hezbollah has two ministers in the new cabinet.

The share-out means that no party will have veto power in the new government and that Sleiman will play the role of arbiter.

"I know previous experience is not encouraging and I know Lebanon has suffered more than its share of tragic events," Hariri said, referring to the political upheavals that have shaken Lebanon in recent years.

"I don't want to make empty promises," he added. "My only promise is to work hard with all parties and to pave the way for renewed faith in Lebanon."

Among the key issues facing the new government are Lebanon's mountainous national debt which is projected to top 50 billion dollars this year and Hezbollah's weapons stockpile.

Israel waged a bloody 34-day war on Lebanon in the summer of 2006 after Hezbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid that aimed to free Lebanese soldiers from Israeli prisons. The bodies of the soldiers were returned in a prisoner swap.

The war claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Hezbollah, originally a resistance group formed to counter an Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, had forced the Israeli military out of Lebanon in 2000. Israel, however, continues to occupy the Lebanese Shabaa Farms.

Israeli flights over Lebanon occur on an almost daily basis and are in breach of UN Security Council resolution 1710, which in August 2006 ended the war.

Hariri, 39, the son of murdered former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, was asked to form a cabinet after his alliance won a general election in June.

But his efforts to form a new unity government with the opposition stumbled because of bickering between the two sides on the distribution of portfolios and the choice of ministers.

Among the major bones of contention was a demand by Christian leader Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, to retain the sensitive telecommunications ministry.

Hariri initially rejected the demand but finally agreed to it in a bid to break the deadlock.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was eager to see the new government finalised before his departure for France later this week, Lebanese media reported.