Submit your comments on this article |
Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
Aoun refuses to join Lebanon's new government |
2005-07-05 |
Hopes that Lebanon's new government would encompass all the country's anti-Syrian opposition groupings are in ruins after Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun refused to join the new Cabinet. Speaking in a radio interview yesterday Aoun said: "The door is totally shut in the face of our participation in Cabinet, because we could not agree on the distribution of governmental portfolios." Announcement of Aoun's decision followed a late-night meeting on Sunday with Saad Hariri, head of Lebanon's largest parliamentary bloc and opposition coalition. Aoun insisted on the FPM being given the Justice Ministry in the Cabinet, but Hariri refused, insisting that the justice portfolio would be assigned to an appointee of the Future Movement. Hariri insists on retaining control over the Justice Ministry because of its crucial role in both the local and international investigation into the assassination of his father, former Premier Rafik Hariri. |
Posted by:Fred |