Karami unveils final Cabinet lineup
30-member government includes 2 women

By Nada Raad and Nafez Kawas
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, October 27, 2004

BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Omar Karami formed a pro-Syrian
30-minister Cabinet on Tuesday excluding opposition members and former
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s parliamentary bloc, but, for the first
time in Lebanon, naming two women to ministerial posts.

“We would have wished all parties to participate, but we could not
do better,” Karami, who had called for a national unity government
to face the pressures on Lebanon, said from Baabda following the
announcement of his new Cabinet.

The Cabinet reshuffle comes amid international pressures on Syria to
withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

However, Karami promised that his Cabinet will draft a new
parliamentary electoral law respecting the Taif Accord, which
stipulates that Syria leave Lebanon.

The Cabinet excludes anti-Syrian opposition groups, who boycotted the
parliamentary consultations ahead of Karami’s appointment. However,
the prime minister designate said that it was the opposition that
decided not to participate in his Cabinet, despite attempts he
initiated in the last few days.

“We will continue to deal with the opposition to solve all difficulties
placed on Lebanon,” he said.

Karami’s Cabinet is the first to include two women, Leila Solh,
daughter of former Prime Minister Riad Solh and aunt of billionaire
Saudi Prince Walid Bin Talal, and Wafaa Hamza, a Shiite close to
Speaker Nabih Berri. Said Karami, “Women constitute half the Lebanese
population.”

Two of the most prominent portfolios, the defense and foreign
ministries, were given to Syria’s allies Abdel-Hamid Mrad and Mahmoud
Hammoud, while Syria’s strongest ally, Suleiman Franjieh, was named
interior minister.

Karami named economist and former Minister Elias Saba as finance
minister, at a time when his government is suffering from an estimated
$35 billion national debt.

Druze Talal Arslan was named minister of the displaced, replacing his
opponent Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt, who said he will not participate
in any Cabinet under Lahoud’s mandate in opposition to the extension
of the president’s term for three years on Sept. 3.

In accordance with the Taif Accord, the Cabinet must include equal
Christian and Muslim representation spread between six Christian
Maronites, four Christian Orthodox, three Christian Catholics,
two Christian Armenians, six Shiites, six Sunnis and three Druze,
headed by a Sunni Muslim prime minister.

The Cabinet was announced following extensive and lengthy consultations
between Lahoud, Berri and Karami over the past five days.

Kararmi’s first visit to Baabda on Tuesday was used to reach an
agreement over the names appointed to some ministries.

Sources close to the Cabinet discussions said that Berri vetoed the
presence of former Speaker Hussein Husseini in the Cabinet and demanded
that the names of all six Shiites ministers receive his approval.

Berri, who heads the Amal Movement, issued a statement on Tuesday
denying all information about a “Shiite obstacle” in the Cabinet
reshuffle.

“There is no Shiite obstacle at all in the Cabinet reshuffle. Several
of the names mentioned in the press are inaccurate,” the statement
said.

After resolving the interior ministry obstacle, granted to outgoing
Health Minister Suleiman Franjieh after outgoing Interior Minister
Elias Murr announced he would not participate in the next Cabinet,
other difficulties emerged over the past 24 hours concerning the
names to be appointed in the culture and education ministries.

Sources said that while Lahoud wanted to grant the Education Ministry
to Bsharri MP Qabalan Issa Khoury’s nephew Ibrahim Daher, Karami
wanted the post for Sami Minkara or Tammam Salam.

“Salam wanted the Public Works and Transportation or the Education
Ministry, but we could not offer him either of the two portfolios. We
hope to include him in future cabinets,” Karami said.

Sources said that former Beirut MP Tammam Salam also wanted a prominent
ministry as none of Beirut’s main figures were handed a portfolio.

Hariri’s parliamentary bloc, which includes 17 Beirut MPs, announced
last week it would not participate in the next cabinet. It also
refrained last Thursday from naming a prime minister during the
compulsory parliamentary consultations with Lahoud.

Early before heading to Baabda, Karami said from his residence in
Ramlet al-Baida that the delay in the Cabinet reshuffle was due to
obstacles concerning names more than allotted portfolios.

Karami also received a delegation from the Syrian Social Nationalist
Party headed by the party’s president Gebran Araiji and a delegation
from the Phalange Party, two visits which were kept away from the
media.

The new Cabinet excludes members of the opposition, such as Jumblatt’s
Democratic Gathering parliamentary bloc, the Qornet Shehwan Gathering
and any ally of Hariri.

Karami’s extensive attempts to include members of the opposition in
his Cabinet failed late Monday. The opposition groups, although not
opposing Karami personally, are determined not to participate in a
cabinet that falls short concerning basic national objectives, such
as implementing the Taif Accord.

They have also repeatedly said that the next cabinet will not bring
any improvement to the current situation.

“We refused to participate in the next cabinet knowing … that the
opposition would be a minority and could not make any difference
to face the majority of pro-regime parties and forces that are
determined to keep the situation going as it is now,” said Qornet
Shehwan Gathering member Batroun MP Butros Harb in a statement Tuesday.

Until late Monday night, Karami was still trying to convince both
Harb and Zghorta MP Nayla Mouawad to join his Cabinet. However,
his initiatives failed when the opposition groups said they would
not participate in a cabinet that lacks reform plans.

What remains to be seen following the Cabinet reshuffle is whether
it will be granted the confidence of Parliament, which requires the
vote of 86 out of its 128 MPs.

According to Article 64 of the Constitution, “The Cabinet does not
exercise its powers before it gains Parliament’s confidence.”

The 29 MPs who voted against the constitutional amendment of the
extension of Lahoud’s term may refuse to cast their vote for the
new Cabinet. However, such a number would not affect the Cabinet’s
legitimacy. But if Hariri’s parliamentary bloc decided not to vote
in favor of the government, in addition to the 29 other MPs, Karami’s
Cabinet would not be able to exercise its powers.

On Wednesday morning the   ministers will go to the Cabinet offices
in Beirut, form a committee and issue a ministerial statement that
needs to receive Parliament’s vote of confidence before the ministers
start exercising their powers.

Lineup of new cabinet

Prime Minister: Omar Karami Deputy Premier: Issam Fares

Finance Minister: Elias Saba

Information Minister: Elie Ferzli

Minister of State: Albert Mansour 

Interior Minister: Suleiman Franjieh

Minister of the Displaced: Talal Arslan

Education Minister: Sami Minkara

Defense Minister: Abdel-Rahim Mrad

Public Works and Transport Minister: Yassin Jaber

Social Affairs Minister: Ghazi Zeaiter

State Minister: Karam Karam

Sports and Youth Minister: Sebouh Hovnanian

Foreign Minister: Mahmoud Hammoud

Telecommunications Minister: Jean-Louis Qordahi

Agriculture Minister: Elias Skaff

Labor Minister: Assem Qanso

Tourism Minister: Farid Khazen

Economy Minister: Adnan Qassar

Minister of State: Mahmoud Abdel-Khaleq

Justice Minister: Adnan Addoum

Culture Minister: Naji Boustany

Energy Minister: Maurice Sehnawi

Industry Minister: Leila Solh

Minister of State for Administrative Development: Ibrahim Daher

Minister of State: Youssef Salameh

Health Minister: Mohammed Jawad Khalifeh

Minister of State: Wafaa Hamzeh

Minister of State: Alain Tabourian

Environment Minister: Wi’am Wahab

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