New Lebanon president begins task of uniting nation

MILITARY bands and a guard of honour greeted President Michel Suleiman yesterday as he entered Lebanon’s presidential palace to begin the monumental task of uniting a wounded nation and reconciling rival political factions.

Suleiman, who was elected on Sunday, was greeted by staffers on a red carpet at the palace in hilly Baabda near Beirut, rather than by an outgoing president as is normally the custom. Lebanon has been without a head of state since November, when Emile Lahoud left office without a successor.

Suleiman’s election is the first step in the deal to end the crisis which erupted this month into the worst violence since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.

US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said President Bush called Suleiman to congratulate him and invite him to Washington “to discuss issues of strategic importance to both the US and Lebanon.” Earlier yesterday Suleiman bid farewell to the emir of Qatar, who brokered a deal among Lebanese politicians last week which led to the election. Parliament failed to elect a new president 19 times in the past six months.

Suleiman is expected to begin consultations with legislators over the formation of a new government as early as Tuesday.

“I call on you all, people and politicians, for a new beginning,” Suleiman said after he was sworn in Sunday. “Let us be united.”

He faces a daunting task. Under the terms of the agreement reached last week in Doha, a new national unity Cabinet will be formed in which Hezbollah and its allies have veto power.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora’s cabinet was considered dissolved upon Suleiman’s election but the new president asked Saniora to stay on as caretaker until a new administration is formed. Once parliamentary leaders name a new prime minister, that person would then present a cabinet lineup for the president’s approval.

Cabinet posts will be distributed according to the Doha agreement: 16 for the majority, 11 for the opposition and three for president, who heads the cabinet. The group must also respect an equal split between Christians and Muslims, as required under Lebanon’s power-sharing formula. The agreement also calls for a new election law under which 2009 elections will be held.

The president serves a six-year term.