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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 001011 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/FO, NEA/ELA 
ALSO FOR IO A/S SILVERBERG AND PDAS WARLICK 
USUN FOR KHALILZAD/WOLFF/KUMAR/PHEE 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/YERGER/GAVITO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2018 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PTER, PINR, UNSC, LE 
SUBJECT: LEBANON: A CABINET IS FORMED 
 
REF: A. BEIRUT 733 
     B. BEIRUT 983 
     C. BEIRUT 963 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. William K. Grant for reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d). 
 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
1. (C) After seven weeks of negotiations between and within 
the opposition and the majority blocs, President Michel 
Sleiman, Prime Minister-designate Fouad Siniora, and Speaker 
Nabih Berri came together at the presidential palace for the 
announcement of the formation of a 30-member cabinet at 1610 
local time, July 11.  The two obstacles delaying the 
formation of the cabinet this week, the opposition's 
controversial nomination of SSNP figure Ali Qanso and the 
intra-March 14 Christian competition for ministerial seats, 
were resolved, in part because of the desire of several March 
14 leaders to preserve their alliance's unity. Our initial 
assessment is that there are no major problems with this 
cabinet, compared to the previous one, for U.S. interests. 
End summary. 
 
CABINET IS FORMED AFTER 
SEVEN WEEKS OF NEGOTIATING 
-------------------------- 
 
2. (C) The agreement on the cabinet, reached one day before 
Sleiman is scheduled to depart for Paris to attend the Union 
of the Mediterranean Summit, is in accordance with the 
16-11-3 division arrived at in Doha (Ref A).  The decrees on 
the appointments have been signed, and the first cabinet 
meeting is expected to take place Wednesday, July 16 or 
later, after Sleiman's return to Lebanon. 
 
Following is an overview of the significant developments of 
the last few days that led to today's agreement: 
 
SSNP FIGURE ALI QANSO 
ACCEPTED BY MARCH 14 
--------------------- 
 
3. (C) At the beginning of the week, Hizballah announced its 
intention to nominate Shia SSNP member Ali Qanso as a 
minister, a move which was promptly rejected by Siniora on 
the grounds that Qanso had threatened Saad Hariri and his 
Future supporters in the north during the May clashes.  When 
both Hizballah and Amal insisted on Qanso's nomination, it 
appeared that this could derail the negotiations.  However 
several March 14 figures, including Saad, advised Siniora 
that it was a mistake to publicly block agreement on a 
cabinet over this issue, and he relented. 
 
NOMINATION OF NASSIB LAHOUD 
SETTLED THE INTRA-MARCH 14 
DISPUTES 
--------------------------- 
 
4. (C) The second point of contention stalling the cabinet 
formation this week was the appointments of March 14 
Christian ministers (Ref B).  Naming to the cabinet Nassib 
Lahoud, a highly-respected former presidential candidate, 
made acceptable excluding both Social Affairs Minister Nayla 
Mouawad and Saad's senior advisor Ghattas Khoury, who had 
been bickering over getting one of the March 14 Christian 
seats.  March 14 stalwart Marwan Hamadeh took credit, during 
July 11 meeting with CDA, for advancing Lahoud's name to 
solve the internal March 14 problem. 
 
OTHER INTRA-MARCH 14 
CONCESSIONS 
-------------------- 
 
5. (C) Hamadeh, allied with Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, said 
that Jumblatt relented in his demands in order to reach 
agreement with his March 14 ally, Lebanese Forces leader 
Samir Geagea.  Per the agreement, Jumblatt would appoint two 
ministers (one with a portfolio and one a state minister), 
allowing Geagea to appoint two ministers with portfolios, 
despite the fact that Jumblatt controls many more MPs than 
does Geagea. 
 
6. (C) For his part, Saad Hariri made an important concession 
to March 14 unity by giving the significant justice portfolio 
for Geagea to designate.  The symbolism of this concession is 
important because if Saad, a Sunni, had turned down the 
request by Geagea, a Christian, to get justice, opposition 
Christian leader Michel Aoun could have made the case that 
the March 14 Christians are controlled by the Sunnis. 
 
JUMBLATT APPOINTED 
INDEPENDENT SHIA SHAMSEDDINE 
---------------------------- 
 
7. (C) In what is a promising overture to independent Shia, 
Jumblatt succeeded in appointing independent Shia Ibrahim 
Shamseddine, who is a member of neither Amal nor Hizballah, 
to fill a March 14 slot.  This was part of an agreement 
Jumblatt made with the opposition, in which he exchanged a 
Druze seat for the opportunity to appoint a Shia (Ref C). 
Jumblatt named Shamseddine and the opposition named Talal 
Arslan, an opposition Druze figure.  Jumblatt has been 
seeking political rapprochement with Arslan, so the latter's 
appointment serves Jumblatt's interests also. 
 
MINISTERS NOW OUTSIDE 
OF THE CABINET 
--------------------- 
 
8. (C) Incumbent ministers who will not be returning to the 
new cabinet are Marwan Hamadeh, a March 14 stalwart who was 
Telecommunications Minister, Social Affairs Minister Nayla 
Mouawad, Tourism Minister Joseph Sarkis, Displaced Persons 
Minister Nehmeh Tohme, Economy Minister Sami Haddad, Finance 
Minister Jihad Azour, Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Fatfat, 
Justice Minister Charles Rizk, Parliamentary Affairs Minister 
Michel Pharon, Labor Minister Trad Hamadeh and Agriculture 
Minister Talal Sahili. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
9. (C) With regard to U.S. interests, our initial reaction is 
that the membership of the new cabinet is no worse than the 
membership of the 24-member national unity cabinet formed in 
2005.  Elias Murr stays as Defense Minister.  Chatah, who 
spent many years with the World Bank, is an excellent choice 
for Finance Minister.  Nassib Lahoud should be a strong 
presence.  Hizballah members occupied two seats in the 
previous, smaller cabinet and will occupy one in the new, 
with two other ministers designated by Hizballah.  Some 
initial questions: we have heard good things about new 
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar but it remains to be seen if 
he will be as strong an advocate for the Special Tribunal as 
his predecessor, Charles Rizk (we have no reason to think he 
won't).  Interior Minister Ziad Baroud has responsibility for 
managing the 2009 parliamentary election and two of the 
internal security forces.  He has extensive experience with 
election reform, but none with internal security that we know 
of.  End comment. 
 
COMPLETE LIST OF NEW CABINET 
---------------------------- 
 
9. (SBU) 
 
MINISTERS DESIGNATED BY MARCH 14 MAJORITY (16 members) 
 
PM Fouad Siniora, Sunni (incumbent) 
 
Bahia Hariri, Minister of Education, Sunni (new; aunt of MP 
Saad Hariri) 
 
Mohammed Chatah, Minister of Finance, Sunni (new; Siniora's 
highly capable senior aide and also close to Saad Hariri. 
One question: who will replace him to manage issues such as 
Sheba'a Farms; he has told us that he expects his new 
responsibilities will take up all of his time) 
 
Tamam Salam, Minister of Culture, Sunni (new; close to Saad 
Hariri) 
 
 
BEIRUT 00001011  003 OF 003 
 
 
Mohammed Safadi, Minister of Economy, Sunni (returning--was 
minister of Public Works; Tripoli bloc; independent of Saad 
Hariri) 
 
Tareq Mitri, Minister of Information, Greek Orthodox 
(returning--was Minister of Culture; close to Siniora) 
 
Khaled Qabbani, Minister of State, Sunni (returning--was 
Minister of Education; was close to Rafiq Hariri) 
 
Ibrahim Najjar, Minister of Justice, Greek-Orthodox (new; 
Lebanese Forces) 
 
Tony Karam, Minister of Environment, Maronite (new; Lebanese 
Forces) 
 
Wael Abu Faour, Minister of State, Druze (new; Jumblatt bloc) 
 
Ghazi Aridi, Minister of Public Works, Druze (returning--was 
Minister of Information; Jumblatt bloc) 
 
Elie Marouni, Minister of Tourism, Maronite (new; Kataeb) 
 
Nassib Lahoud, Minister of State, Maronite (new; Democratic 
Renewal Movement, part of March 14) 
 
Jean Ogassapian, Minister of State, Armenian Orthodox 
(returning--was Minister of Administrative Reform; close to 
Saad Hariri) 
 
Raymond Audi, Minister of Displaced, Greek-Catholic (new; 
prominent owner of Audi Bank) 
 
Ibrahim Shameseddine, Minister of State for Admin Reform, 
Shia (new; independent) 
 
MINISTERS DESIGNATED BY PRESIDENT SLEIMAN (3 members) 
 
Ziad Baroud, Minister of Interior, Maronite (new; electoral 
reform expert but has no internal security experience; close 
to President Sleiman) 
 
Elias Murr, Minister of Defense, Greek-Orthodox (incumbent 
DefMin who loses his deputy PM position; close to President 
Sleiman) 
 
Yussef Takla, Minister of State, Greek-Catholic (new; close 
to President Sleiman) 
 
MINISTERS DESIGNATED BY THE OPPOSITION  (11 members) 
 
Talal Arslan, Minister of Youth and Sports, Druze (new; March 
8) 
 
Ali Qanso, Minister of State, Shia (new; SSNP) 
 
Mohammed Fneish, Minister of Labor, Shia (returning--was 
Minister of Environment; Hizballah) 
 
Mohammed Khalifeh, Minister of Health, Shia (incumbent; close 
to Amal) 
 
Ghazi Zuayeter, Minister of Industry, Shia (new; close to 
Amal) 
 
Fawzi Salloukh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shia (incumbent; 
close to Amal) 
 
Issam Abu Jamra, Deputy PM and Minister of State, 
Greek-Orthodox (new; Aoun) 
 
Alain Tabourian, Minster of Energy and Water, 
Aremenian-Orthodox (new; Tashnaq party) 
 
Mario Aoun, Minister of Social Affairs, Maronite (new; Aoun) 
 
Gebran Bassil, Minister of Telecom, Maronite (new; Aoun) 
 
Elie Skaff, Minister of Agriculture, Greek-Catholic (new; 
Popular Bloc and ally of Michel Aoun) 
GRANT