Opposition Disunited over New Cabinet, Security Commanders in Panic

Walid Jumblat is dismayed because the opposition did not get one half of President Mikati's new cabinet, Gen. Aoun was reserved, Qornet Shahwan gave a conditional approval and Harirists were cautiously happy. This was the media assessment Wednesday of the opposition's mixed reaction to Mikati's 14-man 'no-hate' cabinet of non-runners in the upcoming parliamentary elections, which he formed on Tuesday. But all opposition factions were in tandem to vote 'yes' if the new government commits itself to holding the elections on schedule in May and pledges in its policy statement in parliament next week to remove State Prosecutor Adnan Addoum and the commanders of the nation's six main security services from their posts. The hoped-for purge received a boost by a request from Brig. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, chief of Lebanon's General Security Department, for a one month leave, following the suit of the commander of the army's intelligence service Brig. Gen. Raymond Azar, who sought and got the leave last month. Azar and Rana Koleilat, the star of the $1billion scandal of Beirut's Al Madina Bank, who was released on a hefty bail from 14 months in jail March 17, were reported by the local media to have both slipped out of the country aboard a private Yacht from Jounieh Harbor to Cyprus before March's end. Brig. Gen. Ali Hajj, commander of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) and a onetime bodyguard of slain ex-Premier Hariri, is reportedly seeking a leave of absence, too. Sayyed and Hajj are said to have been 'panicked' by the appointment of retired Brig. Gen. Hassan al Sabaa as interior minister of the new government. Sabaa was among the most renowned officers of the General Security Department, who resigned in 1999 in protest against the appointment of Syrian-backed Sayyed to head the service. Sabaa was then senior to Sayyed in the service. The media says Sabaa would be more than delighted to suspend or fire outright Addoum and the six security commanders, whose heads have been demanded by the opposition for failing to prevent Hariri's assassination. Hariri's family is also reported happy about Sabaa's appointment to the interior portfolio. Sabaa's first act as interior minister was a call on Hariri's grave in downtown Beirut Monday morning to pay his respects saying that he owes political allegiance to the fallen ex-premier.(Photo shows Interior Minister Hassan al Sabaa)

Beirut, Updated 20 Apr 05, 12:03