Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

INTERVIEW: Christian firebrand Aoun eyes Lebanon's presidency

Mark dameli | 16.06.2005 15:13 | Globalisation | London | World

Christian firebrand Michel Aoun, the surprise winner of Lebanon's third round of parliamentary polls, said he would take the job of president if there was consensus on his goals and on pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud stepping down.

General aoun
General aoun


If the parliamentary majority agrees on my political program, if there is a consensus (on Lahoud's departure), I'm ready to become president on condition that those leaving be given an honorable discharge," the retired general said in an interview with AFP and Radio France Internationale.

"I do not wish to defend President Lahoud," he said.

"I have already said that he may have managed to extend his mandate, but he wouldn't be able to finish it. However, changing heads of states is no simple matter," cautioned Aoun.

"We have time, we must agree on a program. I don't want to start on something without knowing where it will lead us," he said.

Aoun, aged 70 and who spent the past 15 years in exile, gained considerable clout when he took 23 seats Sunday in the third round of Lebanon's four-stage polls against an anti-Syrian coalition grouping Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Saad Hariri, the son of slain premier Rafiq Hariri.

The election is the first since Syria, after a 29-year military presence, withdrew its troops and security agents in April in the face of local and international pressure following Hariri's murder in February.

The opposition is seeking to topple Lahoud whose mandate was prolonged by three years after Damascus insisted last September that the constitution be amended.

The decision can only be reversed if two-thirds of parliament's 128 members vote for a new amendment to the constitution.

Under Lebanon's multi-confessional political system, the presidency is earmarked for a Maronite Christian while the premier's office is reserved for a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker's post goes to a Shiite Muslim.

Aoun indicated he was ready to work something out with the opposition to help shorten Lahoud's mandate.

"I am also ready to put the final touches to my program in consultation with others -- Walid Jumblatt, Saad Hariri and other lawmakers," said Aoun, who has vowed to work for sectarian reconciliation in a country which fought a 15-year war.

He said his program included "an independent foreign policy", "the integration of the Lebanese diaspora in decision-making" and fighting rampant corruption in Lebanon.

"I will not go back on my demand for an international audit of Lebanon's public debt even if it's not welcome by the political oligarchy. I'm not accusing anybody but people have the right to know where their money went," he added.

"I'm not accusing anybody and especially not Rafiq Hariri. An audit could do him justice. Maybe it was not a personal failure, maybe Syria was responsible," he added.

"Donor countries demand that we fight corruption and apply transparency to help Lebanon deal with its debt."

Lebanon ran up a 35.5-billion-dollar public debt by end-March 2005, according to World Bank estimates.

Donors have conditioned further aid to Lebanon on thorough reforms and fighting corruption. They also insist that control over private and public funds be kept separate.

Rafiq Hariri was prime minister of pro-Syrian governments between 1994 and 2004 -- with a two-year hiatus -- and the owner of multi-national companies, some of which undertook the reconstruction of post-war Lebanon.

His son Saad, who has taken over part of the empire, insists he wants to end corrupt practices in Lebanon.

Turning to the disarmament of the Shiite militia Hezbollah, as demanded by a UN resolution  http://www.lgic.org/en/help_1559.php and Washington, Aoun said "it must happen through dialogue with Hezbollah, with Lebanon's priorities in mind and not because of an agenda dictated from outside.

"But at the end of the day, we cannot have two armies, it's not acceptable for the unity or dignity of the state," he said.

Mark dameli

Comments

Display the following 4 comments

  1. Mark Dameli - neocon propagandist and Indymedia troll — Aunty Beeb
  2. Former army general Michel Aoun — steeve
  3. U-N.... mandated probe confirms truck bomb killed Lebanon's Hariri — douglas
  4. General Aoun - Liberator of Lebanon — People of Lebanon

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech