The Lebanese President today reappointed Omar Karami as Prime Minister, ten days after the staunch pro-Syrian was forced to step down amid mass protests.

Britain quickly expressed its concern. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, said he hoped it was only a temporary move.

"I am very unhappy about the news that President Lahoud asked Prime Minister Karami to appoint the same government. I very much hope that this is an interim government," Mr Straw told a meeting in London of the left-wing Fabian Society.

"I am expressing anxiety about the circumstances in which the new election will take place. We are concerned about the lack of a level playing field."

Mr Karami and his whole cabinet - packed with pro-Syrian ministers - resigned last week amid public demonstrations against Syrian interference in the internal politics of Lebanon.

The protests began after the assassination on February 14 of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, in a Beirut car bomb widely blamed on Syrian agents.

Revulsion at the killing created a political impetus among Lebanon's middle classes to wrest back control of their country's affairs from its dominant neighbour. On February 28, Lebanon's entire cabinet was forced to resign.

Since then, Arab countries have joined America, Europe and the UN in putting pressure on Syria to withdraw the 14,000 troops and the powerful network of spies it maintains in Lebanon. Syria has started to withdraw its soldiers to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley, but no date has been set for them to leave altogether.

Since his resignation Mr Karami has continued to lead a caretaker government. After he was re-appointed today to steer the country towards elections in May, he immediately called for a national unity government, which he invited the opposition to join.

He said he will begin consultations early next week with parliamentary groupings to form a cabinet.

"The difficulties we all know cannot be confronted without a government of national unity and salvation," he said. "We will extend our hand and wait for the other side."

But the opposition rejected the reappointment even before it became official, complaining that Mr Karami's return to leadership ensures Damascus' continued dominance in Lebanon's politics.

A opposition MP loyal to assassinated former Prime Minister
Rafik al-Hariri said her bloc would not take part in any such
government.“We will not take part in any government before our demands are met,” Ghenwa Jalloul told Reuters.

The opposition has demanded a full Syrian withdrawal, the
resignation of Syrian-backed Lebanese security chiefs and an
international investigation into last month’s killing of Hariri. It also wants a neutral government, complaining that the national unity proposal was a trap to bring opposition members into the Cabinet without giving them a say in policymaking.

Samir Franjieh, another opposition member, said that Mr Karami's re-appointment was a provocative manoeuvre aimed at scuttling any attempts at dialogue.

"It is a step that greatly challenges the opposition and the people's feelings," said Franjieh.

Mr Karami suggested he might not proceed if he fails in bringing to bring all factions together. "If there is no national unity government and if I am the obstacle then I am ready to bow out," he said.

Today, Syrian troop redeployment was picking up pace as soldiers evacuated positions in the north and center of the country. Long convoys of dozens of Syrian trucks and buses headed east on mountain roads last night, and Syrian soldiers evacuated in convoys most of their positions in the northern port of Tripoli and two hilltop positions overlooking the city.

George Bush, the US President, kept up the pressure on Damascus, saying yesterday that Syria’s withdrawal plans in Lebanon are just a "a half measure" and that Syrian intelligence services exercise "heavy handed" influence in Lebanon’s government.

But Mr Karami rejected suggestions that his reappointment was inspired by Syria, saying his supporters had the majority in the parliament and with the people - a reference to Tuesday’s Hezbollah-organized rally in which hundreds of thousands of pro-Syrian supporters participated.

"It was a massive demonstration that asserted our legitimacy in the Lebanese street," he said.

The pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat commented today that his reappointment was a "farce".

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