Larsen emphasises the urgent need for free and fair elections in Lebanon and Syria, reports Mohalhel Fakih from Beirut United Nations special envoy to the Middle East Terje Roed-Larsen has maintained international pressure on Lebanon to hold parliamentary elections on time and disarm Hizbullah. Larsen also secured Syria's commitment to a full withdrawal of its military and intelligence forces from Lebanon by the end of April. But Prime Minister-designate Omar Karami again delayed the formation of a new government to oversee elections, in light of the Pope's recent death. The Lebanese opposition has been accusing pro- Syrian loyalists, including Karami, of seeking to postpone the polls in the face of a campaign of violence that has been blamed on both Syrian and Lebanese intelligence chiefs. "Loyalists have launched a counter attack against the opposition, after feeling that their credibility is slipping away since Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri's assassination. No matter what they do, they have no way out of holding elections under international observation," Fadia Kiwan, head of the Political Science Institute at the St Joseph University (USJ) in Beirut told Al-Ahram Weekly. Larsen obtained the agreement of both Syrian and Lebanese governments to allow a UN team to verify a full withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence assets, according to Security Council Resolution 1559, which also called for the disarming of militias, meaning Hizbullah and Palestinian militant factions. Larsen also called for "free and fair" elections, reflecting the UN's attempt to prevent any repetition of last September's extension -- under Syrian pressure -- of President Emile Lahoud's mandate. Resolution 1559 was passed hours before Lahoud's term was extended for three more years. Larsen confirmed that Syria is withdrawing its military in a "speedy" process. "I think we see eye to eye on the issue of the necessity of having elections in a timely fashion," Larsen added to reporters after meeting Lahoud. Premier Karami was re- appointed by the Christian Maronite pro-Syrian president to form a government although popular protests had forced his last government to step down in the wake of the car bomb that killed his popular Sunni Muslim predecessor Al- Hariri on 14 February, plunging Lebanon into the most serious turmoil it has witnessed since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. The country practises a stiff confessional political system. The opposition is now accusing Karami and Shia Muslim Speaker Nabih Berri, also a staunch ally of Damascus, of planning to delay parliamentary polls that the opposition is poised to win. A meeting of Syria's allies, led by Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayid Hassan Nasrallah, rejected Karami's declared plan to resign again after failing to convince the opposition to join. Since Al-Hariri's assassination, a united opposition front representing former civil war foes and all sects, is demanding that an international commission probe the former premier's killing, and ensure a full Syrian pullout, the dismissal of Syrian backed security chiefs, and for free elections to be held under the watchful eyes of international observers. "They are procrastinating now... will they delay again? We will remain steadfast. Will they bomb again? Fine, we will call popular rallies to the homes of security chiefs. Is that what they want? We are ready," opposition leader Walid Jumblatt said in his Mount Lebanon home in Mukhtara. The government, which Karami said he will form by the weekend, will revoke a draft electoral law that government officials had approved before Al-Hariri's death. It divided Lebanon into the smallest voting districts, a move the opposition had welcomed as truly representative of the country's religious mix. However, Karami and Berri said the new law would carve much larger voting zones. Faced with a campaign of unclaimed car bombings in Christian neighbourhoods, and are targeting shopping malls and industries, the opposition is concerned about stability and has said it will approve any new voting map, in an attempt to avoid a delay in the polls. "Some people are trying to protect whatever authority they have left. Others are telling President Emile Lahoud 'be careful, we either drown together or remain together'," MP Jumblatt said. He echoed the wide-spread belief that Lahoud and Syrian-backed security chiefs are now locked in a power struggle, after the head of state voiced readiness to cooperate with an international inquiry into Al-Hariri's assassination. But Jumblatt accused Lahoud of "manoeuvring," and again pointed the finger at Syrian and Lebanese intelligence operatives. The opposition blames them for Al-Hariri's murder and a previous attempt on the life of Druze MP Marwan Hamadeh, one of several MPs who rejected an extension of Lahoud's mandate. The UN Security Council will soon task an international commission with investigating the Al-Hariri's killing. A UN fact-finding mission had recommended an independent enquiry after finding "serious flaws" in the Lebanese investigation. It also blamed Syrian intelligence "for the lack of security, protection and law and order" in Lebanon. "Although the recent explosions are taking place in Christian areas, one has to bear in mind the assassination attempt against Marwan Hamadeh and the killing of former prime minister Al-Hariri. The plot is not only against one faction. But there is an attempt to revive a feeling of frustration among the Christians who took a leading role in popular protests following Al- Hariri's assassination. They want to create fear," Kiwan of USJ told the Weekly. Christians in post-war Lebanon have often blamed a mood of frustration and defeat among the Maronites -- once the country's dominant political sect -- on Syria's presence. They are demanding that exiled Army General Michel Aoun return from Paris and for imprisoned Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea to be released. They are working closely with other sects to push for a complete pullout of the Syrians and accuse the authorities of wanting to sow the seeds of division in an attempt to prevent the withdrawal from taking place. But Syria's most reliable ally in Lebanon, Hizbullah, pointed out that any break down in security would benefit none other than Israel. Ruling out another war, Kiwan said, "the plot is quite big. It had caused warfare in Lebanon in 1975. That is how we explain Al-Hariri's assassination. He was a symbol of confidence in Lebanon. The bombings might be carried out by internal agents but the mastermind is not in Lebanon." Hizbullah has said the explosions are "serving the Zionist enemy and its schemes." It also warned against the "dangers of the repercussions of such acts, which target the security, stability and civil peace" of Lebanon. In contrast, some Lebanese have come to view Hizbullah's armament as the main source of instability. The Muslim Shia group conducted an armed campaign that led to Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, but is now at the centre of mounting international pressure -- and rising suspicion at home -- to disarm. "Hizbullah will not disarm even if the Israelis withdraw from Shebaa Farms," Ghaleb Abu Zeinab, Hizbullah political bureau member said. The group is defying Security Council Resolution 1559 -- which demanded it be disarmed -- on grounds that Israel continues to occupy the Shebaa Farms and breaches Lebanese airspace, posing a threat to the country. "Hizbullah's weapons are not linked to the Shebaa Farms and the government wants to protect Hizbullah," Kiwan told the Weekly. Some opposition members, aware of popular support for Hizbullah among Muslim Shia and the group's military superiority, backed down on demands for an immediate disarmament of the Syrian and Iranian-backed party. At a meeting all agreed to "protect the resistance" and engage Hizbullah in an internal dialogue at a later stage, away from international pressure. Druze leader Jumblatt, who recently met Nasrallah after a long break, vowed that it would never "stab Hizbullah" in the back and that it sought to "engage it in dialogue". He rejected US and Israeli pressure to disarm it. When asked whether Hizbullah disarmament talks should take place after the Shebaa Farms dispute is resolved Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir's response was "Perhaps, yes." A declaration by Larsen in Damascus, in the presence of Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Al-Sharaa, stated that the border hill region is Israeli-occupied territory belonging to Syria. The claim, which did not draw a response from the top Syrian diplomat, had left the Lebanese baffled. Damascus had backed Beirut's claim to the Shebaa Farms, and justified attacks on Israeli positions there after the UN certified Israel's Lebanon pullout in line with Security Council Resolution 425. But Syria's official news agency SANA later reported that Al-Sharaa and his Lebanese counterpart Mahmoud Hammoud had reaffirmed, in telephone discussions, that the Shebaa Farms belong to Lebanon. In another statement by Hammoud following a meeting with Larsen, it was confirmed that the Shebaa Farms belong to Lebanon.
