Region | Lebanon
Hariri unlikely to disarm Hezbollah
Pro-west leader hints at willingness to form national unity government.
- AP
- Published: 00:04 June 14, 2009
- Image Credit: Reuters
- I think what's best for the country we need to work on unifying all our efforts toward making sure that what we do all of us is for the benefit of the people of Lebanon, says Sa'ad Hariri, Lebanese leader.
Beirut: The pro-Western politician favoured to become Lebanon's next prime minister is setting aside the explosive issue of disarming the Shiite group Hezbollah, saying on Friday he hopes for unity with his political foes in the sharply divided country.
The comments by Sa'ad Hariri in an interview reflect the tough choices facing his US- and Saudi-backed coalition after its victory against Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies.
His faction maintained its majority in parliament, handing a blow to Syria's and Iran's attempts to strengthen their influence in Lebanon. A Hezbollah victory could have been a serious obstacle to President Barack Obama's search for Mideast peace.
But the heavily armed, staunchly anti-Israeli Hezbollah remains a potent force in Lebanon, and past attempts to rein in its power have nearly pushed the country into civil war. Hariri has signalled he is willing to form a national unity government including Hezbollah, but it will probably take weeks of negotiations to work out the balance of power.
The 39-year-old Hariri, a billionaire businessman, struck a conciliatory tone on Friday, saying he wants to focus on what unites rather than what divides Lebanon's factions. "Today, we came out with a majority and there is an extended hand to everyone," he said. "I think what's best for the country we need to work on unifying all our efforts toward making sure that what we do all of us is for the benefit of the people of Lebanon."
Despite political differences between the two camps, he said, it "should not make us stop from working and achieving big projects and big issues for the Lebanese people".
He said the issue of Hezbollah's powerful arsenal of weapons - including rockets - would remain an issue for a "national dialogue" that the parties have been conducting periodically the past three years but has made almost no progress on the issue of weapons. he said.
The reference to the dialogue signalled that a Hariri government would not make a major push to disarm Hezbollah. Some Hariri supporters - particularly in the Christian community - want the Shiite guerrilla force's weapons taken away, as does the United States and United Nations.
But governments led by Hariri ally Fuad Saniora the past four years have avoided tackling the weapons issue and even formally backed Hezbollah's role as "resistance" to Israel, fearing a confrontation with the powerful militant group. Hezbollah's forces, backed by some 30,000 rockets, were able to fend off Israel's military in a 2006 war and are considered more powerful than Lebanon's military.
A move by Saniora to curb the group's military communications network in May 2008 led to street battles in which Hezbollah gunmen swept through Sunni pro-government neighbourhoods of Beirut, raising fears the country could fall into a new civil war.
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