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Lebanon’s Maronites
see end to political isolation
by:
Reuters - Beirut
Syria’s pullout from Lebanon has opened
the door for an exiled Christian Maronite general to return home and the
possible release of a jailed warlord in what some say are vital steps in
turning the page on the civil war.
Many Lebanese Maronites say the exile of General Michel Aoun, who left for
France in 1991, and detention of Samir Geagea in 1994 symbolised the targeting
of their community by a Syrian-dominated order after the 1975-1990 war.
But Syria, harried by international pressure, is set to finish withdrawing
troops from Lebanon by the end of the month. Aoun says he will return on May 7
to contest parliamentary elections and calls are growing for Geagea’s
release.
“There will be new equilibrium,” said political analyst Farid Al Khazen, a
Maronite who is a member of the opposition.
“The people who represented Maronites in the presidency and parliament were
not really representative of the community. Not all of them, but many of them,
lacked legitimacy,” he said.
Lebanon’s political convention reserves the presidency for the Maronites,
who were the dominant pre-war force in politics but were stripped of some of
their privileges by the 1989 Taif Accord which ended the war. Many saw it as a
Maronite defeat.
Geagea, who refused to join a pro-Syrian government in 1992, received multiple
life sentences for a string of crimes including killing a prime minister. He
was the only militia leader to stand trial while an amnesty cleared other
warlords, including some who rose in political ranks.
“We think that 11 years after the imprisonment of Al Hakim, he must leave
prison quickly, especially because Samir Geagea ... is one of the makers of
the Taif Accord,” Geagea’s wife Setrida said on Thursday, using her
husband’s nom de guerre.
“The spirit of the Taif Accord is built on true national consensus and
complete national reconciliation to turn the page of the war finally with no
return,” she said after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to press for
Geagea’s release.
Aoun, who lost a battle to Syrian troops late in the war, said his National
Free Movement would field at least 40 candidates in general elections
scheduled for May but likely to be pushed back by problems in forming a
government.
He said both him and Geagea — whose forces fought bitter battles against
each other towards the end of the war — were victims of political oppression.
“Each of us represent a big section of the Lebanese population and there was
a type of political oppression against us. In the shadow of political
oppression, there will not be national reconciliation,” he said.
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