Mohamed Azakir/Reuters
Lebanese protesters celebrated after Prime Minister Omar Karami resigned from office.
Posted on 02/28/2005 4:47:28 PM PST by neverdem
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 28 - In an apparent victory for Lebanon's opposition movement, Prime Minister Omar Karami resigned from office today, dissolving the country's pro-Syrian government and setting the stage for what could be a dramatic change in the relationship between Syria and Lebanon.
Mr. Karami's announcement came as more than 25,000 flag-waving protesters massed outside Parliament, chanting "Syria out!" two weeks after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. When news of Mr. Karami's resignation reached the crowds, a cheer erupted throughout the square where they had gathered.
Mr. Karami made his terse announcement moments after Parliament reconvened this evening to continue debate on a no-confidence measure against the current Syrian-backed government.
"Out of concern that the government does not become an obstacle to the good of the country, I announce the resignation of the government I had the honor to lead," Mr. Karami said in a brief statement. "May God preserve Lebanon."
Lebanese TV reported that President Emile Lahoud had accepted Mr. Karami's resignation early tonight.
"I think the pressure built up and he said that's enough," said Michael Young, a Beirut-based analyst and editor. "All the anger was being directed against him personally and he said it's enough."
Mr. Karami, scion of the Lebanese independence hero Abduhamid Karami and brother of a multi-term prime minister, Rashid Karami, who was assassinated in 1987, was defiant as he faced Parliament this morning.
"I call on everyone to be patient and avoid taking their strength from abroad, allowing Lebanese demands to be manipulated by the ongoing conflict in the Arab world," Mr. Karami warned, in an apparent allusion to growing pressure by the United States and France to get Syria to pull out of Lebanon. Mr. Karami endured heated debate as opposition members of Parliament lobbed increasingly personal attacks, accusing him of corruption and of serving Syrian interests.
Colleagues said today that Mr. Karami decided to resign after Mr. Hariri's sister, in opening comments, asked for his resignation, emphasizing the lack of confidence from the Hariri family. Mr. Karami also feared destabilizing Lebanon's economy by staying on.
Few opposition parliamentarians expected to win the no-confidence measure, but Mr. Karami appeared to bow to popular unrest.
"The government would have won the confidence vote, they weren't afraid of that," said Jihad al Khazen, a professor of political science at the American University in Beirut. "But they lost confidence on the street and that was awkward. They lost legitimacy, they lost credibility."
With the dissolution of Mr. Karami's cabinet, a caretaker government will be assigned to lead Lebanon until parliamentary elections, already planned for May, are held. Mr. Karami's government had been under heavy pressure to resign in the wake of Mr. Hariri's assassination Feb. 14, as outraged Lebanese lashed out at what they saw as the government's negligence and at its ties to Syria.
Mr. Karami himself became prime minister after Mr. Hariri resigned last October in protest over the lifting of term limits on the presidency that allowed the pro-Syrian President Lahoud to remain in office for three more years.
Mr. Karami's resignation follows protests over the past two weeks demanding a full investigation of Mr. Hariri's assassination, the resignation of the government, and an immediate pullout of Syria from Lebanon. The marches culminated in a massive demonstration at Beirut's Martyrs Square today in open defiance of an Interior Ministry order against the gathering, and a parliamentary session led by the opposition began deliberations on a confidence vote.
Lebanese soldiers circled much of the city center with barbed wire and barricades Sunday evening to block today's demonstration. Protesters rushed to get to the site of the demonstration, just yards away from Mr. Hariri's grave, and camped through the night.
Despite orders to prevent demonstrators from entering the area, Lebanese soldiers relented to a flood of largely young protestors today, and the demonstration went on peacefully.
"We came to say that things are not acceptable anymore," said Tony Khouri, who had come from Amman, Jordan, with his wife Caroline on family business, and stayed on for the demonstration. "The goal is for everyone to stop interfering in our country and let us take care of ourselves," Mr. Khouri said, alluding to Syria's grip on Lebanon.
Such talk was virtually unheard of only a year ago. But the resignation of Mr. Karami under pressure from people on the street underscored Syria's weakening grip on the country and the tremendous pressure on the Baathist state to withdraw from Lebanon. For over 30 years, Syria has dominated Lebanon's political and economic life through its military and proxy over the government, sanctioning Hezbollah and using the country as a gateway into the global economy. Mr. Hariri's assassination on Feb. 14 turned the opposition movement, which initially began in 2001, into a populist movement on the streets.
"It was unprecedented for the Syrians," said Dr. Khazen."It is the first time in Lebanon we see such national unity on such a crucial issue."
International pressure for Syria to get out of Lebanon has grown stronger. The United States recalled its ambassador to Syria last week, and has demanded that Syria leave completely. United Nations investigators landed in Beirut on Friday, seeking to get to the bottom of the assassination.
Arab leaders like President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt have also sent Bashar al-Assad messages to withdraw, warning of dire consequences otherwise.
Syrian officials tonight described the resignation as a "Lebanese issue."
"We hope that a Lebanese government will emerge to lead Lebanon to what is best for Lebanon and for the rest of the region in this very delicate time," said an official with the Foreign Ministry.
State Department officials, who have the called the fall of the government the "Cedar Revolution," praised the opposition's efforts
"What's happening in Lebanon is a reflection of the desires of the people of Lebanon. And what President Bush has said, I think, is being borne out here, is that it is the natural state of human beings to be free and to want to be free," said the State Department's deputy spokesman Adam Ereli.
Some, however, warn that the resignation may only feed growing instability that has hurt Lebanon's economy and may create further divisions in the country, which has struggled to rebuild after the 15 year civil war that ended in 1990.
"In my opinion, he wants to throw the responsibility on someone else and that somebody else will not be able to solve Lebanon's problem," said Adnan Arakji, a close confidante of Mr. Hariri's who recently dropped out of the opposition movement. "I worry that these people don't know what they're doing. They now have to sit on the table and negotiate with each other or elsethe country will go to ruin."
Beirut's streets buzzed this evening with exuberant protesters who only 24 hours earlier had been barred by the Lebanese army from entering Martyrs Square.
"This is the time for the people to stand together or else we will lose this country," said Ala Andari, who camped out at the square this evening. "We've had enough of the Syrians and their control, just give us our freedom."
Mohamed Azakir/Reuters
Lebanese protesters celebrated after Prime Minister Omar Karami resigned from office.
LOL. Isn't Syria on the UN's Security Council? Oh yeah, gonna be a whole lotta investigatin' goin' on here.....
Of course. Bush causes more chaos. < /Bush's fault>
Dissolved?
"Major Meltdown" is more like it...
Democracy is spreading like wildfire in the Mid East. Of course the libs see this a bad thing.
Yep, they do.
Any lib who views this as good, is shouted down as a neo-con or a PNAC plant (like PNAC has thousands and thousands of plants stationed on every left wing board).
They are flying accusations of everything from the CIA and PNAC to Israel doing this, and hoping it fails.
Its scary watching people, rooting for death and dictatorships, simply to achieve a political goal.
Its like they want a immediate halt to any new democraicies or elections everywhere in the world, and let the people be damned, because anything good benefits Bush.
Its always disgusted me to want some people to suffer, simply because, through no fault of there own, you dislike somone else.
During the civil war, it was one religion against the other and they ended up losing everything. Now, they have a second chance. TOGETHER!
YES!!!!
To them, the ends does justify the means and to hell with anyone who gets in the way.
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