Syria's long been known to call the shots in Lebanese politics, but as the country struggles with its worst political crisis in years, Lebanon's government has slipped out of sight. Foreign dignitaries come and go without calling on the government, anti-Syrian opposition leaders are traveling the globe visiting world leaders, the Lebanese president skipped an Arab summit this week and his designated prime minister, who quit Feb 28 but was reappointed 10 days later, can't from a Cabinet. Some Lebanese consider it an undeclared isolation of the government because of accusations leveled by the opposition that state security agencies were involved in the Feb 14 assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri. The government's grip on the political agenda also may be slipping. President Emile Lahoud, canceling participation in an Arab summit in Algeria that opened Tuesday, cited "exceptional circumstances" in the wake of a car bombing early Saturday that injured nine people and raised the specter of renewed violence similar to that of the 1976-90 civil war. Lahoud called for immediate dialogue but the opposition rejected that, saying the president was a party to the political standoff. Former Prime Minister Salim Hoss, who has launched a third-option campaign offering Lebanese ground between that of the pro-Syrian government and the anti-Syrian opposition, did not spare either side of criticism. He has warned that the polarization would drive the country toward the unknown, expressing concern about a power vacuum, but his calls, have not caught on. "It seems as if the government, even while being a caretaker one or in the process of designation, lacks the vision and the initiative and consequently a role," Hoss said in a statement. "This is (political) bankruptcy."
Premier-designate Omar Karami also has warned of a power vacuum without a government, insisting he may bow out if he is unable to form a Cabinet. Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa went further when he questioned the wisdom of the calls for Lahoud to resign. "Is it in the interest of national harmony to have a big constitutional vacuum in Lebanon?" he asked in an interview on LBC television. Despite Lahoud's control of the military, security services and the pro-Syrian camp's majority in parliament, the president's prestige has suffered amid opponents' calls for him to step down.
Opposition leaders, by contrast, are being receiving by leaders around the region and beyond. Maronite Catholic Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir, considered the silent force behind the opposition, was received at the White House last week and also met with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York. Walid Jumblatt, a Druse whose also been a leading figure in the opposition, traveled to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Moscow, Berlin and Brussels. He met Monday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. Dignitaries visiting Lebanon to pay their respects to Hariri's family and visit his tomb - but skipping even a courtesy call on the Lebanese president or prime minister - include French President Jacques Chirac, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and members of a US congressional delegation. A long line of Arab dignitaries, including many from the Gulf where Hariri - a naturalized Saudi - had many contacts, also ignored Lebanese government officials when they streamed to the Hariri family home and to the grave on the central Martyrs' Square. The explanation, some said, was because the visits were private to offer condolences.
But many were unconvinced. Visitors shunned the Lebanese government because it is "under political siege and because administering Lebanon has been put practically in the hands of the (UN) Security Council, which grants domestic legitimacy or withholds it and sets the general political course," wrote Bishara Charbel, editor-in-chief of the Lebanese newspaper Sada Al Balad.