Nasrallah: No government change

February 08, 2012
By Hussein Dakroub
The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah ruled out Tuesday a government change, disclosing that contacts have been initiated with the aim of ending a row between Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

Although Cabinet has been riven by political differences since it was formed last June and is currently at a standstill, Nasrallah stressed that the continuation of Mikati’s government, which is dominated by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, was essential for the country’s security and stability.

Nasrallah also reiterated his support for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying “a real dialogue table” between the government and the opposition was the only solution to end the 11-month-old turmoil in Syria.

“We are keen on the Cabinet to stay in office. There is no need for mediation given that it is everyone’s responsibility. There are ongoing contacts that will lead to a solution for this crisis,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech on the occasion of Prophet Mohammad’s birthday which was marked in the Arab and Muslim worlds last week.

Nasrallah scoffed at calls by the opposition March 14 politicians for the formation of a new technocrat government in view of the constant rifts between Mikati and ministers from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc.

“There will be no new government,” he said, speaking via video link to a large crowd of Hezbollah’s supporters at a complex in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

“Regardless of its labeling, this government is so far the basis for stability in the country. We must work hard in order [for the government] to achieve something,” Nasrallah said, adding: “Now is not the time for the toppling of governments, neither [is it] the time for political tension in Lebanon.”

He rejected March 14 accusations that Mikati’s 30-member Cabinet was a Hezbollah-controlled Cabinet.

“I say to those who have started to fix their suits and neckties for a new government, there will be no new government,” Nasrallah said.

He did not elaborate on the efforts being made to resolve the Cabinet crisis. But a senior Hezbollah official told The Daily Star Monday that the party has begun behind-the-scene contacts aimed at resolving the Cabinet crisis sparked last week following sharp differences between Mikati and Aoun’s ministers over the thorny issue of civil service appointments.

The government crisis began last week when Mikati abruptly ended a Cabinet session after ministers from Aoun’s bloc rejected the prime minister’s proposed names for appointments to the Higher Disciplinary Committee.

Mikati has implicitly accused Aoun’s ministers of obstructing the Cabinet’s work, saying he will not allow anyone to undermine the prime minister’s prerogatives. Mikati has since said that he will not resume Cabinet sessions before agreement is reached on a formula to make the government productive.

But Aoun hit back at both Mikati and President Michel Sleiman Tuesday, blaming them for the Cabinet crisis. “They [Sleiman and Mikati] don’t want us to reach to the higher positions in the state,” Aoun told reporters after chairing a weekly meeting of his bloc.

In his speech, Nasrallah denied media reports that Hezbollah was involved in money laundering or drugs trafficking to fund the group’s resistance against Israel. He also denied media reports that Hezbollah was involved in any commercial ventures in or outside Lebanon.

But he acknowledged Hezbollah has been receiving moral, political and financial support from Iran since the party was founded in 1982. In his speech, Nasrallah renewed his support for Assad in the face of what he said was a decision by the United States, the West, Israel and some moderate Arab states to topple the Assad regime.

Nasrallah said a solution to end the violence in Syria lay in “a real dialogue table” coupled with Assad’s readiness to carry out political reforms. “Betting on America and money and weapons is a losing bet,” he said.

“The Syrian leadership has agreed to most of the reforms demanded and it is ready for dialogue. Now they [the opposition] are saying it is too late. How is it too late when a war is raging in Syria and when there are some who are pushing Syria to a civil war?” Nasrallah said. “Whoever cares about Syria would never say that it was too late but would instead go to dialogue without prior conditions for the resignation of the president.”

Nasrallah categorically denied opposition claims that his group was fighting along with government forces against protesters and rebel groups in Syria.

Source: The Daily Star.
Link: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Feb-08/162576-nasrallah-no-government-change.ashx.