BEIRUT: Lebanon's president will launch formal talks Monday on creating a new government after the resignation of Hezbollah ministers and their allies brought down Prime Minister Saad Hariri's cabinet. “The consultations will start Monday at noon (1000 GMT),” Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told reporters after meeting President Michel Suleiman. Suleiman asked Hariri to stay on as caretaker prime minister Thursday after 11 ministers quit in a dispute over an investigation into the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father. The tribunal prosecutor is expected to send draft indictments to a pre-trial judge this month, and Hezbollah leader Sayyed Nasrallah has said he expects members of his movement to be accused of involvement. Hezbollah denies any role in the killing and had called on Hariri to withdraw Lebanon's funding for and cooperation with the tribunal – a demand which he rejected. According to the constitution, Lebanon's president nominates a prime minister to form a new government after consultations with members of parliament. It was not clear how long consultations will take. Officials have declined to say whether Hariri, whose coalition won a 2009 parliamentary election, will be asked to form a new government, or if someone else would be nominated. Boutros Harb, a parliamentarian close to Hariri, said: “I do not see a government in the country without Saad Hariri.” Analysts played down the prospect of open armed conflict between Hezbollah. But street protests, skirmishes or even a return to the bombings and political killings that followed the 2005 attack could not be ruled out, analysts said. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said that while Hariri's killers should be punished, any immediate move to hand down indictments naming Hezbollah could inflame matters further. Finance Minister Raya Al-Hassan said: “We are stumbling in a difficult political situation now... I hope this phase does not last long... because the economy will go back if it does and in this case we will all be harmed.”
