Lebanon PM calls for order

2008-05-10 17:29

Beirut - Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora urged the army to restore order on Saturday after Hezbollah took over west Beirut and vowed his government would hold firm in its face-off with the Shi'ite militants.

"I have called on the army to live up to its national responsibilities without hesitation or delay and this has not happened until now," Siniora said in a televised address to the nation that marked his first reaction to the sectarian clashes that have left 29 people dead in four days.

"The dream of democracy ... has been dealt a poisonous sting," Siniora said. "Your country will not succumb to those behind this coup and the Lebanese people will not allow the return of hegemony and terrorism.

"Democracy has taken a stab to the heart ... but the state will not fall to those behind this coup."

The Sunni premier called on the army to clear militants from the streets immediately, as well as the Hezbollah-led protestors who have been holding a sit-in outside his government's headquarters since December 2006.

"I call on the army to impose security on everyone in all areas and to clear armed elements from the street immediately," he said.

Minute's silence

He called on all Lebanese to stand for a minute's silence on Sunday to commemorate those killed in the sectarian clashes of the past four days.

Siniora said the weapons of Hezbollah could no longer be considered legitimate as they had been turned on Lebanese.

"We believed them when they said they would not turn their weapons internally," he said. "But Hezbollah must know that the power of weapons will not terrorise us.

"They cannot continue like this and we never doubted that Hezbollah had the ability to take over the city of Beirut as it did in a matter of hours.

"We will not go back on our decisions and convictions even if they make more use of their weapons than they already have," he said.

The fighting was sparked by the government's decision to probe a communications network set up by Hezbollah and to sack the head of security at Beirut airport over his alleged links with the militant group.

The Hezbollah-led opposition has been insisting that the roadblocks that have paralysed west Beirut and the international airport will remain in place until the government reverses the decisions.

Siniora said his government planned to transfer them to the army.

"If Hezbollah must use its communication network, this must be known and approved by the state," he said.

Siniora urged the immediate election as president by parliament of consensus candidate General Michel Sleiman - the current army chief - to fill a post which has been vacant for the past five months amid the deadlock between the government and the opposition.

He also called for a dialogue embracing all political factions under the chairmanship of a neutral figure.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term of office without a successor in place.

- AFP