Prime Minister of Lebanon
Rafiq Baha’uddin al-Hariri
(For a biographical sketch of President Elias Hrawi, Click Here
Official name: Republic of Lebanon
Capital: Beirut
Population: Between 3 and 4 million. No official census has been taken since 1932.
Land area: 10,452 sq km
Language: Arabic is the official language, but French and English are widely spoken. Armenian is also spoken by a minority group.
Major religions: 50% Muslim; 50% Christian
The largest Christian group are Maronites, followed by the Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Armenian Orthodox, Armenian Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Chaldeans, Protestants and Syrian Orthodox. The largest Muslim group are the Shiite, followed by the Sunni and the Druze.
Weights and measures: Metric system
Lebanon is a republic with a president, a cabinet and unicameral National Assembly.
Until 1990 an unwritten agreement known as the National Pact specified that the president had to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, the speaker of parliament a Shiite Muslim and the Armed Forces Chief of Staff a Druze.
Parliamentary seats were apportioned among the various sects in accordance with a six to five ratio of Christians to Muslims, as were cabinet, judiciary and military posts. The parliament has legislative powers and elects the president for a six-year non-renewable term.
Under constitutional reforms set by a peace accord in 1990, many of the powers of the Christian president were shifted to a half-Christian, half-Muslim cabinet, and the Muslim prime minister was to countersign presidential decrees. Parliamentary elections were last held in 1996.
Modern times
For a while after the independence of 1943, independent Lebanon was a model ecumenical society. Its strategic Middle Eastern location and relatively stable government made it a major trade and financial centre. But two fatal flaws marred the country’s chance for lasting peace.
The first cause for conflict was the unbalanced power-sharing arrangement. Control rested with the right-wing Christian part of the population while the Muslims, who comprised 50% of the population felt excluded from real government.
A second problem arose as Lebanon was gradually drawn in to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Although the country did not actively participate militarily, displaced Palestinian Muslim refugees flooded into the country and continued their attacks on Israel from Lebanese bases.
In 1958 a Muslim rebellion ended when American marines landed in Beirut, but in the summer of 1975 all-out civil war broke out between the Muslim coalition allied with Palestinian groups and the Christian-dominated militias.
In April 1976, an uneasy cease-fire was forced upon the two sides when Syrian military forces intervened at the request of the Lebanese president, Suleiman Franjieh and with the approval of the Arab League of States. Nevertheless sporadic violence continued, and in 1978 Israel invaded southern Lebanon in an attempt to eliminate Palestinian bases.
Withdrawing three months later after a United nations peacekeeping force was sent to the area, they reinvaded in 1982, occupying Beirut and forcing the PLO to evacuate its head quarters. For seven weeks the Israelis relentlessly bombed the Muslim half of Beirut by air, sea and land. The USA arranged for the evacuation of PLO fighters to other Arab Countries, and a multinational Force of US and West European troops was deployed to Beirut to protect Palestinian and Muslim civilians.
After the assassination of president-elect Bashir Gemayel, Israeli-backed Christian militias massacred Palestinian civilians in the Chatila and Sabra camps in West Beirut. A year later Israeli troops withdrew to southern Lebanon. No sooner had they left when fighting broke out between Lebanon’s Christian and Druze militias, and terrorist attacks on the multinational force including the US marine headquarters at Beirut airport resulted in hundreds of casualties.
After 300 US and French troops were killed on October 23, 1983, the Western forces pulled out. Factional fighting persisted and Westerners in Beirut became the targets of radical Shiite Muslims with an allegiance to Iran.
In 1988 a parliamentary power struggle led to the formation of rival Christian and Muslim governments. In 1989 the Lebanese parliament accepted an Arab-brokered peace accord for national reconciliation. MPs elected Maronite Rene Mooed as president who was assassinated 17 days later.
With the help of the Syrians, the Lebanese army took control of Beirut and by 1992 under pressure from Iran and the US, all the foreign hostages captured several years earlier were released.
Things have calmed down in Lebanon, and there is hope that the situation will continue to improve as the chance of lasting peace in the Middle East gains momentum.
Rafiq Baha’uddin al-Hariri
Rafiq Baha’uddin al-Hariri is the Prime Minister of Lebanon and Minister of Financeand has been since 1992. He was born in Sidon, Lebanon in 1945.
He graduated from the Arab University of Beirut in 1965 and found employment as a mathematics teacher in Jidda, Saudi Arabia. He then became an auditor with an engineering company and later on founded a small construction company. Through his relationship with the Saudi royal family and his skills as an entrepreneur, he began to be sought after for most of the Ministry of Finance’s contracting bids. He then became a naturalized Saudi citizen and expanded his now global business to include ownership of Paris’s Entreprise Oger and the Luxembourg based Mediterranee Investors Group. Since 1983, he engaged in mediating efforts to bring peace to the Lebanese civil war. One of his major accomplishments was the Ta’if accord-the blueprint for national reconciliation-which has helped to establish a more equitable political system. Today, he is the founder of Solidaire, the major company responsible for the rebuilding of Beirut. He is uncommon as an Arab businessman in that he used his wealth philanthropically rather than ostentatiously while at the same time he remained active in diplomacy and politics.
Hariri works with the President of Lebanon, Elias Hrawi, and Speaker and leader of Amal, Nabih Berri. There presently are two foreign occupying forces in Lebanon. Syria has a large number of troops in Lebanon mainly concentrated in the Beqaa Valley and Beirut. While Israel currently occupies the south of Lebanon. Hariri (and the Lebanese government) has close ties with Syria and consults Syrian officials (especially vice-president Abd al-Halim Khaddam) on major decisions to be made both in domestic and foreign affairs. The end of the most recent polling process (Sept.16) showed that pro-Syrian candidates swept the polls, thus it is said that Syria will dominate Lebanese politics for at least four more years. Lebanon is also allied with France and Hariri consults with Jaques Chirac about developments in the region and their impact on the Arab-Israeli peace process.
There are currently around 300,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon Many of Israel’s problems in Lebanon arise from its long time domination of the South. It has kept control through a combination of Lebanese puppets and the Army of South Lebanon, a proxy militia headed by Major-General Antoine Lahd. The Israeli war in Lebanon continues daily. Israeli and Lebanese conflicts reached their peak during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon (which was costly in both Israeli lives and prestige), and continue on with the most recent large scale conflict which took place in Qana in April of 1996, where close to 200 civilians died when a UN shelter was bombed. Constant shelling of the south by Israel has become a simple fact of daily life. The Hezbollah is a major reason for the current presence of Israeli forces in Lebanon. Hariri is vehemently against the Israeli occupation and insists that the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 425 be executed. His alignment with Syria on the matter is unalterable. Hariri constantly voices his concern and pessimism over the irresponsible and intransigent Israeli position on the peace process, which is in a real dead-lock.