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2006-10-31 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
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Hizbullah warns of resignations, protests if demands for unity government not met
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EFL
BEIRUT: Hizbullah will seek the formation of a new government through all democratic means, including the resignation of its two ministers and street protests, the group's senior MP said on Monday. Hizbullah and its allies have been demanding a new "national unity" government since the month-long war with Israel ended on August 14.
The group has been a fierce critic of Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, whom it sees, along with the parliamentary majority, as keen to disarm its military wing.
"We are careful to practice all democratic and legitimate means to express our stand and our rejection of the continuation of this situation and to work toward forming a government of national unity," said Mohammad Raad, the head of Hizbullah's parliamentary bloc.
"We will take all available democratic steps to achieve this goal, including resigning from the government," he added.
Raad was speaking after holding separate talks with key opposition figures, former Prime Minister Omar Karami and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.
Speaker Nabih Berri on Sunday delayed talks with Leb-anon's political elite aimed at defusing tensions after several anti-Syrian leaders said they could not attend because they would be out of the country this week.
In his attempts to reduce tensions, Berri is expected to meet later this week with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, who said in his Sunday sermon that "certain parties" are trying to return the country to the age of Syrian tutelage.
Sfeir is also scheduled to meet Aoun this week in their first meeting since relations between the two leaders deteriorated a few months ago over their stance regarding calls for a national unity government.
Berri told As-Safir newspaper on Monday that all leaders confirmed they will attend the talks next Monday, except for Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who the speaker said "is a target for the Americans and the Israelis, and even if he decides to attend I will forbid him for his own safety and for that of Lebanon."
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt is in Washington for meetings with US officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Jumblatt said in a statement in the PSP weekly magazine to be published today that discussing a national unity government is only possible after electing a new president.
"Political logic requires first solving the presidency issue ... afterwards we can discuss forming a national unity government ... then a new electoral law," the Druze leader said.
Former President and Phalanges Party leader Amin Gemayel is in Kurdistan, while Hariri is in Saudi Arabia.
Gemayel said Monday from Kurdistan that the current conflict in Lebanon is between "a party working for Lebanon ... and another one which insists on linking [Lebanon] to regional strategic interests that are closer to adventures, taking place on its land and destroying its infrastructure and killing and displacing its people."
Hmmm... What's Gemayel doing in Kurdistan?
A German naval squadron off the coast, French, Finnish, and other European forces in-country, and now Nasrallah is setting deadlines for a "unity" government? 
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Posted by mrp 2006-10-31 11:40||
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Posted by DoDo 2006-10-31 14:31||
2006-10-31 14:31||
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Posted by DepotGuy 2006-10-31 17:12||
2006-10-31 17:12||
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