الرئيسية
Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati has said he is
ready to resign should his Hezbollah-dominated cabinet refuse to
transfer funds to a UN-backed court probing the murder of ex-premier
Rafiq Hariri.(AFP/File/Emmanuel Dunand)
By Natacha Yazbeck, AFP
BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanon faced yet another major political
crisis Friday after Prime Minister Najib Mikati threatened to resign
should his Hezbollah-dominated cabinet refuse to fund a UN court probing
the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
"I cannot imagine being
prime minister of a government... that fails to honour its international
commitments or isolates itself from the international community,"
Mikati said late Thursday in an interview with LBC television.
When
asked whether he was ready to resign over the issue, Mikati said:
"Quite simply, by resigning I will be protecting Lebanon should it fail
to pay its share of funding.
"If the cabinet decides it will not
pay its dues to the tribunal, Lebanon will be hit with sanctions while I
am prime minister," he said, adding that the funds were an "insurance
policy" against such an outcome.
The funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is due to be discussed at a crucial cabinet meeting next Wednesday.
Mikati's
comments signalled a possible showdown between the Sunni premier and
the Shiite Hezbollah, which has steadfastly pushed for Lebanon to cut
all ties with the STL, set up in the aftermath of Hariri's 2005
assassination.
His threat to resign also comes amid intense
international pressure on Lebanon to uphold its duties towards the
Netherlands-based court, which in June charged four operatives of
Hezbollah -- the most powerful political and military force in Lebanon
-- in connection with the murder.
No arrests have been made.
STL
president David Baragwanath travelled to Lebanon this week and met with
officials, including Mikati and President Michel Sleiman, to drive home
Lebanon's need to fulfil its international obligations.
A
government official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said
Baragwanath had made clear that it was in the interest of Lebanon to
contribute its share to the court or face "being dragged before the UN
Security Council."
Lebanon had until the end of October to transfer the now overdue funds.
Opposition
MP Ammar Houry told AFP on Friday that it was clear Mikati's government
was on its way out and would collapse by the end of the month should
Lebanon fail to transfer the funds to the STL.
"The government is
currently on life support," Houry said. "I expect the cabinet to
collapse next Wednesday if the funding falls through."
The
Western-backed opposition, headed by ex-premier Saad Hariri, son of the
slain leader, was meanwhile planning to make a show of force on Sunday
at a mass rally in the northern city of Tripoli, Mikati's hometown.
The
Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah toppled Hariri's government in
January after he refused to cease cooperation with the STL.
Experts
said it was clear Mikati was being backed into a corner by the
international community over the STL and his threat to resign was his
"last gamble."
"It's a precarious situation," said Karim Makdisi,
political science professor at the American University of Beirut. "This
is Mikati's last gamble.
"The (funding) decision has been
postponed time and again and the visit by the STL president is a signal
from the West that they're not willing to see a compromise," he added.
Lebanon
is responsible for meeting 49 percent of the STL's financing, which
amounts to some $35 million (25.2 million euros) this year.
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is the first international court with jurisdiction to try an act of terrorism.
Hezbollah
has dismissed the court as a US-Israeli conspiracy and its leader
Hassan Nasrallah has vowed that no party members wanted by the STL will
ever be found.
Rafiq Hariri's death in 2005 led to a series of political crises that brought the country close to civil war in 2008.