Lebanon"s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri formed a new unity government on Monday, Reuters reported. "Finally, the government of national concord has been born," Hariri told reporters after agreeing the cabinet at a meeting with President Michel Suleiman at the presidential palace in Baabda on the outskirts of Beirut. "We have turned a page that we don"t want to go back to and opened a new page that we strive to make a page of concord and work," he said. The new 30-minister cabinet includes 15 ministers from Hariri"s coalition, 10 from the opposition including two Hezbollah ministers, and five, including the key interior and defense portfolios, were nominated by President Suleiman French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner welcomed the formation of the Lebanese government and pledged his country"s support for Hariri. "The formation of a new government was necessary to resolve the conflict that Lebanon was facing, to assure the security and stability of the country...," Kouchner said. On his part, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also welcomed the formation of a new government and called on it "to recommit to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701." "The secretary-general hopes that Lebanese political leaders will continue to work together in a spirit of unity, dialogue and cooperation," his spokeswoman said.
