New prime minister chosen in Lebanon

 

New prime minister chosen in Lebanon

By BASSEM MROUE | Associated Press - 4 hrs ago

http://news.yahoo.com/prime-minister-chosen-lebanon-105842561.html

 

    In this Thursday, April 4, 2013 photo, member of parliament and former

minister of culture Tammam Salam listens during a meeting with a March 14

political coalition in Beirut, Lebanon. Salam has emerged as the leading

candidate for the post of prime minister. Although leaning toward the

Western-backed anti-Hezbollah coalition, Salam, who comes from a prominent

Sunni Muslim family, is seen as a consensus figure.

 

BEIRUT (AP) - A prominent Lebanese politician named prime minister on

Saturday after receiving vast support from parliament said he will work to

end divisions in Lebanon and prevent the civil war in Syria from spilling

over into the country.

 

Following two days of consultations, President Michel Suleiman asked Tammam

Salam to form a new Cabinet. The 68-year-old Beirut legislator and former

culture minister was chosen for the job by 124 members of the 128-seat

parliament.

 

Salam faces the challenge of holding Lebanon together amid rising sectarian

tensions resulting from the civil war next door in Syria. The country's two

largest political blocs support opposite sides the fight between Syrian

President Bashar Assad's forces and rebel fighters trying to oust him.

 

"I start from the necessity of taking Lebanon out of divisions and political

tensions that were reflected in the security situation," Salam said in his

first public statement after being chosen.

 

He added that his job also will be to prevent threats from the "neighboring

catastrophic situation." Salam was trying to allay the fear in Lebanon that

Syria's two-year civil war, which has killed more than 70,000 people, will

spread to Lebanon.

 

Salam said he would do his best to form a "national interest government," a

process that could take him a long time because of the sharp divisions among

Lebanese politicians as a result of the Syrian crisis. He did not elaborate

on the type of Cabinet.

 

Outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigned last month over a political

deadlock between Lebanon's two main political camps and infighting in his

government. Mikati, who was prime minister since June 2011, headed a

government that was dominated by the militant Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group

and its allies.

 

His abrupt departure plunged the nation into uncertainty amid heightened

sectarian clashes related to Syria's civil war.

 

Mikati stepped down to protest the parliament's inability to agree on a law

to govern elections set for later this year, as well as the refusal by

Hezbollah and its allies in the cabinet to extend the tenure of the

country's police chief.

 

"I start from the point of uniting national visions and to quickly reach an

agreement on a new elections law that gives justice of representation,"

Salam said.

 

Although leaning toward the Western-backed anti-Hezbollah coalition, Salam,

who is the son of the late former Prime Minister Saeb Salam, is seen as a

consensus figure. Salam studied in Britain and has degrees in economics and

business administration.

 

He was first elected to parliament for four years in 1996. He became

minister of culture in 2008 under then prime minister Fuad Saniora. He was

elected to parliament for the second time in 2009 when he ran for a seat in

Beirut and joined a Western-backed coalition led by former prime minister,

Saad Harir.

 

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