Posted on 03/29/2005 10:30:45 AM PST by SmithL
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister said on Tuesday he would step down because he could not persuade anti-Syrian opposition figures to join a national unity government to lead the country to elections due in May.
In a move that could delay those polls, Omar Karami told reporters he was not willing to lead a cabinet that did not include both pro-Syrian loyalists and opposition.
"I am not willing to form a government of this sort and I came to put the speaker in the picture," he said after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. "I am going to see the president to inform him of this decision."
Karami resigned as prime minister a month ago after coming under immense popular pressure from Lebanese angered by the killing of his predecessor Rafik al-Hariri. But he was reappointed by parliament to form a national unity government.
Lebanon's opposition, which blames Syria and the Lebanese security agencies it backs for Hariri's death, has refused to join any government until after elections it believes will give it a majority in a chamber now largely allied to Damascus.
Once officially informed of Karami's decision, President Emile Lahoud will have to consult with deputies once again to choose a new prime minister, a process that could delay the general election much to the ire of the opposition.
Opposition figures accuse Karami of procrastinating to avoid elections and had urged him to form a government without them. His old cabinet still holds office in a caretaker capacity.
Karami and Lahoud had been expected in Cairo on Wednesday to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but Lahoud's office said no such meeting was planned.
Hariri's killing in a Feb. 14 bombing prompted the biggest street protests in Lebanon's history and plunged the tiny country into its most serious political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war that divided it along sectarian lines.
Christian, Druze and Sunni Muslim opposition figures, many of them wartime foes, seized upon popular anger to demand Syria withdraw forces it first poured into Lebanon early in that war.
SYRIAN PULLOUT
Facing immense international pressure, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has promised to withdraw all troops, intelligence agents and equipment from its neighbor.
Damascus has completed the first stage of a two-phase withdrawal plan, pulling back to the Bekaa valley and withdrawing nearly half the 14,000 troops it kept in Lebanon.
More than 2,000 Syrian troops have left in the past week, inching Syria closer to ending its 29-year military domination.
About a dozen Syrian vehicles crossed the border on Tuesday, witnesses said. More were packing in the southwest of the Bekaa.
"Assad has given instructions for the withdrawal to happen quickly," Lebanese Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad told Reuters. "But nothing has been set."
A Syrian-Lebanese military committee is due to meet next week to set a timeline for withdrawing the remaining forces.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said he expects Syria to complete the pull-out before elections.
The U.N. Security Council was expected to discuss this week ordering an international probe into Hariri's death in line with the results of a U.N. fact-finding mission to Beirut.
Karami told reporters he was sticking to an earlier promise to only head a broad national unity cabinet and was not willing to form a cabinet of relatively non-partisan figures both sides could accept -- a formula the opposition is pressing for.
"It is obvious they were wasting all this time, a month and a few days, so as not to form a government and avoid elections," Druze opposition lawmaker Ghazi al-Aridi told Reuters.
"The talk is now of a government of 10 people, trusted, credible people, able to hold parliamentary elections," he had said before Karami's widely expected comments.
But pro-Syrian Environment Minister Wiam Wahhab had also earlier said he did not see a quick end to the deadlock.
"We have entered a long stage," he said. "No one has to give them (opposition) a government they are comfortable with ... If they want elections they must enter a national unity cabinet."
MSM story will be "Chaos rules in Lebanon".
Dubya's fault, thank G-D.
Assad will fall if they lose Lebanon. Follow the money.
The question now is what effect this will have in Iran.
Impressive Pictures!
What an incredible picture.
WOW..What a picture!
A Lebanese flashes a victory sign during a pro-opposition demonstration in Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday, March 28th, 2005. 
Lebanese police officers walk in front of opposition protesters shouting anti-Syrian slogans, singing patriotic songs and waving Lebanese flags and Hariri's pictures during a pro-opposition demonstration in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday March 28th, 2005.
Heading back to 'Assad-land': Syrian soldiers ride on their truck as they move towards the border in eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanon March 28th, 2005.
Lebanese opposition protesters wave Lebanese flag as they sing during a pro-opposition demonstration in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday March 28th, 2005. More than 5,000 women belonging to pro-opposition groups walked about one kilometer (0.6 mile) from the bombing site of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri near the seafront Saint Georges Hotel to Martyrs' Square a few meters (yards) from Hariri's grave, shouting anti-Syrian slogans, singing patriotic songs, waving Lebanese flags and Hariri's pictures. (AP Photo/ Hussein Malla)
Lebanese opposition protesters sign a big poster of slain former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri during a pro-opposition demonstration in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday March 28th, 2005.
The hand of Hizballah/Syria:A Lebanese policeman holds his weapon while securing the blast site in a Christian suburb of east Beirut, March 27th, 2005. The bombing in a Christian suburb of east Beirut overshadowed Easter celebrations on Sunday and raised fresh fears of a slide back into Lebanon's violent past. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
Lebanese soldiers force back anti- Syrian protesters at the site of Saturday's explosion in an industrial zone of the mainly Christian neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday March 27th, 2005. Several dozen opposition supporters tried to reach the damaged buildings to hang big Lebanese flags but were forced back by soldiers guarding the area.
A Syrian soldier takes down communication cables in preparation to withdraw in the Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon March 27th, 2005
The thing that struck me the most about that amazing unprecedented protest of a few weeks ago was Bill Kristol saying something like "Think about this - 25% of Lebanon's total population was there."
That statement and your picture really demonstrate the massive solidarity of the Lebanese people. Courage to them!
Thanks!
MAN -O- MAN where are they finding these Lebanese BABES in these pictures!!
Now I see why they keep them in burkas in lots of places over there- they dont want us coming to get them
Wow - Syria did a better job of setting up a functioning republic than America has in Iraq.
You have the most twisted logic on FR.
That or they'll accuse Karl Rove of ordering him to quit.
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