DUBAI & DAMASCUS - Newly designated Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karameh said he was pessimistic about the prospects of forming a national unity government as targeted, in remarks published Friday.
Ten days after resigning amid public protest against Syria's 29-year military presence in Lebanon, Karameh was reappointed prime minister on Thursday by Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud to put together a new cabinet.
In an interview with the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, Karameh said that he was determined to conduct a "dialogue with the opposition until the end, without preliminary conditions."
But he said he was "not optimistic" about the formation of a national unity government like that which he hopes for ahead of parliamentary elections which are due to be held by mid-May.
"Now, I manage the daily affairs ... and I could continue to do so for a long time," he told the daily, hinting he may not form a new cabinet and that the government which resigned could continue to manage affairs in the interim.
Asked why he accepted being reappointed after his surprise resignation before parliament, Karameh said: "Should we let it sink into chaos? We need a government of salvation and national unity.
"From my side, I will do all that is possible for the country's salvation, and I will extend my hand to all. And if I don't receive what I hope for, it will reveal who is responsible," Karameh added.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the UN said Friday the world body’s special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen would not back up calls for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon with threats on his Damascus mission this weekend.
According to the Washington Post, he will give Syrian President Bashar al-Assad an ultimatum when they meet Saturday in Damascus, threatening political and economic isolation if Syria does not fully withdraw from Lebanon.
But Roed-Larsen, "by the nature of his mandate and that of the secretary general, cannot carry threats", Beirut-based spokesman Nejib Friji said, contacted from Damascus.
He said Roed-Larsen would "repeat the positions he expressed during his last meetings with Syrian and Lebanese officials as well as the Lebanese opposition, calling for dialogue, cooperation and calm".
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Thursday that his envoy would ask Damascus for a date for the withdrawal of its troops required under Security Council Resolution 1559.
"I hope the envoy will be able to come back with a timetable," he said.
Roed-Larsen has been charged with overseeing the implementation of Resolution 1559, passed by the Security Council last year, which demands Syria's withdrawal as well as the disarming of militant groups like Hezbollah.
A Lebanese military source said Friday that Syrian troops had completely withdrawn from all their positions in northern Lebanon and only the intelligence service offices had yet to be evacuated.
The first phase of a Syrian redeployment, carried out in the face of burgeoning global and local pressure, began Tuesday and was to last a week to 10 days.
The pullback to eastern Lebanon affects 6,000 troops stationed in northern Lebanon and the mountains overlooking Beirut and is seen as a prelude to the departure of all of Syria's estimated 14,000 soldiers from Lebanese territory.
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