Headlines, Middle East & North Africa

LEBANON: Breakthrough At Last

Mona Alami

BEIRUT, May 21 2008 (IPS) - The highway connecting East and West Beirut, known locally as ‘the ring’, was bustling with unusual activity Wednesday morning. An incredible sight seemed to attract passers-by, who slowed down their cars suddenly before coming to a full stop and exiting. By the Riad al-Solh statue in the Beirut Central District (BCD), a symbol of Lebanese dissension had fallen.

The dismantlement of the opposition’s camp city – part of a sit-in protest erected 18 months ago in the heart of Beirut’s posh downtown – has heralded a breakthrough between rivalling Lebanese factions, which finally reached an agreement in Doha, Qatar. The images of the white tents vacillating in the sun before collapsing to the ground were a result of the nearly week-long dialogue held in Qatar and the regrouping of major Lebanese factions.

“Si vis pacem, para iustitiam,” ‘if you want peace, prepare justice’, goes the saying. And in the corridors of the Doha Sheraton Hotel, which hosted the summit, Lebanese factions seem to have temporarily put aside their differences to engineer a compromise that satisfies both sides after they brought the country to brink of civil war.

Over the last two years, following the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri – largely attributed to the Syrian regime – Lebanon has been the scene of a Manichean feud. The pro-Syrian and Iranian opposition – dominated by the Shia Hezbollah and Amal parties and their Christian ally, the Free Patriotic movement ( FPM) – and the majority, including, the Sunni Future Movement, the Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) and the Christian Kataeb and Lebanese Forces, have been struggling over four main issues, each carrying the seeds of a potentially never-ending discord.

“The first major concern was about agreeing on a unity government, which would grant the opposition a blocking minority vote,” says Future Movement MP Moustapha Allouche. “The second one revolved around the timing of presidential elections. Although a consensus president, commander-in-chief of the army General Michel Sleiman, had been agreed on, the country has been without a president since last November.”

The opposition and the majority have also been arguing over the establishment of a new electoral law, as the most recent 2000 law is seen as unjust, particularly by the opposition. The issue of Hezbollah’s weapons has also become a growing concern for the majority, especially since Hezbollah’s semi coup on May 7, which led to violent combats in the capital Beirut, the mountains and the north of the country, resulting in more than 65 deaths.

“The political deadlock first stemmed from the eviction from power of the FPM, a major electoral coalition, followed by the resignation of Shia MPs from the government, and was crowned by the vacuum at the head of the Lebanese presidency. The recent mini-war that took place in Lebanon has prompted all factions to work on reaching a peaceful solution,” says MP Ghassan Mokheiber, who is allied with the FPM.

“The key to any long-term solution primarily revolves around the reform and the elaboration of a new electoral law that would reduce the over-representation of large electoral blocks such as the Future, Hezbollah and Amal movements,” he said, adding that a revamping of the law would also favour minorities and provide Christians with better representation as well as allow MPs more independence from large blocs.

As the summit organizer, Qatari emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, showed his impatience at the Lebanese factions’ inability to reach a consensus, he provided participants with a 48-hour deadline to accept one of two compromise proposals he submitted, a source told IPS.

The first proposal, which called for an immediate parliamentary vote to elect Suleiman as president and the formation of a unity government, while postponing talks on a new electoral law, was rejected by the opposition – more specifically, by the FPM. A second proposal envisioned a return to and the amendment of the 1960 electoral law. An adjustment of the law would mainly take place in the much disputed constituencies of Beirut, a stronghold for the Future Movement and the Hariri family. It would be followed by the election of Suleiman and the formation of a unity government.

“Lebanon cannot be ruled by one community at the expense of others. A real effort in building the state needs to be made,” said Mokheiber. The MP believes that reforming the electoral law, and agreeing on a consensus government and president will also pave the way to giving real thought to the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons and the development of a common defence strategy for Lebanon.

As rumours of an impending presidential election to be held this coming Sunday or Monday circulate in the streets surrounding the protest encampment, shop and restaurant owners flock to the Beirut Central District. Along the cobbled stone streets that lead to the Lebanese parliament, the Arabic cheer “mabrouk” (congratulations) replaces the sounds of discord and violence, creating a long awaited atmosphere of optimism.