Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BEIRUT868
2009-07-30 13:57:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beirut
Cable title:  

PRESIDENT'S CABINET BLOC NEARLY SETTLED, BUT OTHER

Tags:  PREL PGOV PINR LE 
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VZCZCXRO0283
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHLB #0868/01 2111357
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 301357Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5454
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3505
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 4036
RHMCSUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000868 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA
ALSO FOR IO A/S BRIMMER
P FOR DRUSSELL, RRANGASWAMY
USUN FOR WOLFF/GERMAIN/SCHEDLBAUER
NSC FOR SHAPIRO, MCDERMOTT
DOD/OSD FOR FLOURNOY/KAHL/DALTON
DRL/NESA FOR WHITMAN
OVP FOR HMUSTAFA
PARIS FOR JMILLER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/29/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR LE
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT'S CABINET BLOC NEARLY SETTLED, BUT OTHER
MINISTERS UNDETERMINED

Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000868

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA
ALSO FOR IO A/S BRIMMER
P FOR DRUSSELL, RRANGASWAMY
USUN FOR WOLFF/GERMAIN/SCHEDLBAUER
NSC FOR SHAPIRO, MCDERMOTT
DOD/OSD FOR FLOURNOY/KAHL/DALTON
DRL/NESA FOR WHITMAN
OVP FOR HMUSTAFA
PARIS FOR JMILLER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/29/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR LE
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT'S CABINET BLOC NEARLY SETTLED, BUT OTHER
MINISTERS UNDETERMINED

Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) The President's ministerial bloc will contain five
ministers and is nearly decided upon, according to
presidential advisor Naji Abi Assi. Negotiation over
portfolio distribution continues, but the issue of the
blocking third is moot because it has been agreed that no
"controversial" decisions will make it to the cabinet without
a pre-arranged consensus. Inter-party squabbles over
portfolios will slow the process, but we expect the
negotiations to move at pace. End summary.

PRESIDENTIAL MINISTERIAL BLOC
NEARLY SET
--------------


2. (C) The President's ministerial bloc will contain five
ministers and is nearly decided upon, presidential advisor
Naji Abi Assi told PolChief on the evening of July 29. The
Shia member, whom Hizballah and Amal acceded to at President
Sleiman's suggestion, will be Adnan As-Sayyid Hussein. Mr.
Hussein came to the President's attention over the last year
as a foreign policy advisor, and Abi Assi described him as
"neutral" although his brother is "politically involved"
(NFI). The Sunni minister will likely be Adnan Kassar,
although Ghalib Mahmasani is still a possibility. (Note:
Kassar was previously Minister of Economy and is the current
head of Fransabank. Mahmasani is a noted legal expert and
currently advises the President on the National Defense
Strategy. End note.) Current caretaker Minister of Defense
Elias al-Murr and current caretaker Minister of the Interior
Ziad Baroud will stay on in their current roles after the
President decided that placing a Shia in the Ministry of
Defense would send the wrong signals both domestically and
internationally. The fifth minister in the President's bloc
will be a Greek Catholic, thus far unidentified, although a
candidate might "come from Geneva and have a finance

background," Abi Assi hinted.

AOUN WILL NOT GET INTERIOR MINISTRY
--------------


3. (C) Michel Aoun, Abi Assi implied, is pressing for his
son-in-law and current caretaker Minister of
Telecommunications Gebran Bassil to be Minister of the
Interior, but he will fail, predicted Abi Assi. Al-Murr was
originally fingered to move to the Ministry of the Interior
and Baroud to the Ministry of Justice, but "Hizballah
rejected al-Murr in the Ministry of the Interior and Baroud
got an A in that position in the last government." On July
30 Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri plans to meet with
representatives of Amal and Hizballah to negotiate portfolio
distribution. Abi Assi described the Shia parties as
negotiating with Hariri and the President on the FPM's
behalf and not leaving the party out of the negotiations.

ALL CABINET DECISIONS
WILL BE BY CONSENSUS
--------------


4. (C) The issue of the blocking third is moot, Abi Assi
emphasized, because it has been agreed that no
"controversial" decisions will make it to the cabinet without
a pre-arranged consensus. The President sees his role as
that of intermediary, and he will work to prevent any
confrontations in the cabinet. The opposition is pressing
for the drafting of the ministerial statement now, but that
will happen after the portfolios are distributed. The
horsetrading over portfolios and ministers will likely be
resolved within a few days, he assessed.

TALAL ARSLAN NOMINATION

BEIRUT 00000868 002 OF 002


SHOWS UP SHIA PARTIES
--------------


5. (C) Caretaker Minister of Transport and Public Works
Ghazi Aridi said that Progressive Socialist Party Walid
Jumblatt's proposal that his Druze rival, caretaker Minister
of Youth and Sports Talal Arslan, join the cabinet from the
opposition's ministerial quota is off the table. The
proposal failed, said Aridi, because Hizballah refused to
sacrifice one of its two ministerial positions to a Shia from
the March 14 coalition. Caretaker Minister for
Administrative Reforms Ibrahim Shamseddine had irritated
Hizballah in that role, and the party opposed the empowering
of Shia voices outside of Hizballah and Amal. Nevertheless,
Jumblatt's proposal purposely highlighted Hizballah's
unwillingness to compromise, according to Aridi.

COMMENT
--------------


6. (C) The movement on the President's ministerial bloc
indicates the progress being made in cabinet formation.
Inter-party squabbles over portfolios will slow the process,
but we expect the negotiations to move at pace. Stability in
the Ministry of Defense will favor USG interests, while the
President's intent to make cabinet decisions by consensus
will inevitably be tested on the shoals of the Lebanese
political milieu. End comment.

SISON