LEBANON: Hizbullah, branded a terrorist group by Washington, won a ministerial post for the first time in Lebanon yesterday when prime minister Fouad Siniora formed the country's first government since Syrian forces withdrew.
But pro-Syria Hizbullah's cabinet entry was balanced by the fact that the government's overall make-up reflected elections last month which swept an anti-Syrian majority to parliament for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war ended.
President Emile Lahoud, a close ally of Damascus, approved the 24-member cabinet after three weeks of tough negotiations with Mr Siniora, who has the backing of parliament's majority coalition leader, Saad al-Hariri.
The new government has 15 ministers loyal to Mr Hariri and five loyal to a pro-Syria Shia's Muslim coalition that includes Hizbullah. The cabinet also has three members loyal to Mr Lahoud and an independent.
The cabinet did not include followers of Michel Aoun, who heads the largest Christian bloc in the 128-member parliament.
Mr Aoun turned down invitations to join a Siniora government after his demand for four ministries was rejected.
"I have a big hope that [the government] will operate as a homogenous working team and rise to the level of the issues and major challenges facing it," Mr Siniora said. "It is good thing to have Hizbullah in this cabinet." He named Hizbullah official Mohammad Fneish as energy and water resources minister.
Mr Siniora was a senior aide to Mr Hariri's father Rafik, a former prime minister whose assassination in February sparked international and domestic pressure that forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April. His government faces the task of controlling a $36 billion public debt that is now almost twice the size of Lebanon's gross domestic product. It also needs to prove that Lebanon can take care of its internal security without Syrian troops after a spate of bombings and assassinations and rising tension between pro- and anti-Syrian factions.