Aoun & Hezbollah using blackmail to block Lebanon vote
Lebanon appeared Monday to be moving towards a consensus on army chief of staff General Michel Suleiman as its next president, but then doubts surfaced after possible new obstacles raised by Christian opposition figure General Michel Aoun. Suleiman is now the only candidate for the post which has been vacant since November 23 when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud ended his term. Since then Lebanon has been without a president for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war.
A new issue, however, is the need for a constitutional amendment because the current constitution prevents a senior public servant, such as Suleiman, from becoming president.
“Things were moving forward but after (opposition) Michel Aoun”s statement, things will be delayed,” a high-ranking government source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Aoun, leader of the Free Patriotic Movement and a close ally to the radical Islamic party Hezbollah, stressed Monday he had accepted Suleiman”s nomination. But he said there had to be a political agreement before agreeing to an amendment to the constitution.
Observers believe that Hezbollah and Aoun want to secure their share in the new government after a new president is elected before they give their final approval to Suleiman as the next president.
A source close to anti-Syrian Christian leader Samir Geagea, a political rival of Aoun, said: “This is pure blackmail.”
The source, who requested anonymity, charged that “the opposition do not want a president they are using General Aoun to put obstcales and impossible demands such as this so-called document, to prevent a consensus in the country.”
At a press conference Aoun read a document outlining the outcome of consultations he held with some Christian figures last week and he urged Christians to “engage other communities, tighten national unity and civil order and reject regional and international alliances.”
Aoun said the Christians have been “targeted in their mere existence, role and rights” which is tantamount to targeting Lebanon”s “existence.”
The Christians, according to Aoun, were suffering from the demographic changes resulting from the naturalization law passed more than 10 years ago. He stressed that the crisis facing Christians had been escalated by the resulting vacuum in the presidential office.
It stressed that the president should be chosen by the Christians and backed at the national level. It urged the Christians to adopt a path of “political resistance to safeguard their presence and role.”
According to a government source Hezbollah also demanded consensus on the name of the next army commander to succeed Suleiman.
These demands, the source said , were “other forms of blackmail” by Hezbollah since “it wants to guarantee a pro-Syrian army chief, who will keep its arms and does not want the new president to abide by the UN resolutions.”
Parliament is due to vote on Friday. The Hezbollah-led opposition is insistion on a quorum of two-thirds of the deputies for a valid vote, a level which the majority led by Premier Fouad Siniora”s government does not command.
Observers said Hezbollah”s demand on the quorum was its way of trying to extract maximum gains before a parliamentary vote.
The army chief is seen as a neutral figure who can appeal to both the ruling majority and the pro-Syrian opposition.
Former pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud ended his term on November 23 and the country since has been without a president. Many fear that a political vacuum in the country would lead to violence.
General Aoun”s movement, Hezbollah and a handful of smaller pro- Syrian groups have been staging since December 1, 2006 a sit-in in downtown Beirut to topple Siniora”s western-backed government.
The opposition wanted Siniora to step down at the time or broaden his cabinet to allow the opposition a greater say and even a veto power, but Siniora has rebuffed the demands, and insisted he will not step down.
Government officials accuse the opposition of pursuing an Iranian-Syrian agenda.
Aoun has spent much of his life fighting Syrian domination of Lebanon, but when he allied with Hezbollah, with its close ties to Syria, he was criticized by the anti-Syrian majority for changing sides.
In his defense, Aoun said the alliance would ward off Syria rather than allow it to return to Lebanon. He said he would seek friendly relations with Syria once it ceased its influence on Lebanon.
But many in the anti-Syrian ruling majority which is backed by the US have accused Aoun of riding the wave of Hezbollah”s popularity after the 2006 war with Israel. Hezbollah claimed victory after the 33-day war with Israel , but its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been hiding ever since for fear of assassination.
Aoun has made no secret of his hope to become president, a role reserved for Christians in Lebanon”s complex sectarian political system, but his alliance with Hezbollah has turned Aoun”s hopes into an impossible dream.