Odd alliance seeks to reshape politics

Beirut: In October, 2004, while he was still in his French exile, former General Michel Aoun lobbied hard to implement a United Nations resolution demanding the disarming of all militias in Lebanon, including the powerful group Hezbollah.

Less than five years later Aoun, the leader of the largest Christian party, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) has allied himself with Hezbollah in a bid to oust the pro-Western March 14 from government in today's election.

Their opposition alliance, supported by other heavyweight players like speaker Nabih Berri, stands a good chance of winning the elections and forming the next government.

Security Council resolution 1559, which Aoun had considered a victory for Lebanon, called on Syria, which was the dominant power in Lebanon for three decades, to leave its smaller neighbour and demanded the disarming of "all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias."

Speaking to a Lebanese newspaper from his Paris residence shortly after the resolution was passed by the UN in October 2005, Aoun - known in Lebanon as The General - said "the Lebanese army should not be afraid to disarm Hezbollah", the group credited with forcing the Israelis out of south Lebanon in May 2000 after 20 years of occupation. Following the Israeli withdrawal, "Why does Hezbollah retain its weapons?" Aoun asked, and accused Syria of protecting the Hezbollah arms to "inflame tension".

Too many things have changed since then. Syria was forced to pull its 30,000 soldiers out of Lebanon in April 2005, following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri two months earlier. Aoun returned to his country to a hero's welcome and a few weeks later swept the June 2005 elections to become the undisputed leader of Lebanon's Christians.

"Today, the Christians have a leader," declared the Maronite patriarch Cardinal Nassrallah Sfier. Christians have complained that during Syria's three decades of hegemony they were deprived of their fair share of power in the country where the constitution divides the power evenly between Muslims and Christians.

"Aoun is back," posters filled the streets and walls. But less than a year later, in February 2006, the General stunned his supporters and foes with the signing of the controversial "Memorandum of Understanding" with Hezbollah, the group against which he had campaigned for most if his 15 year exile in France.

His picture embracing Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah following the signing of the document in a southern Beirut church hall signalled the General was reshaping complicated politics in Lebanon.

In the document, Aoun acknowledged "the right" of Hezbollah to retain its weapons as long as Israel occupies Shebaa Farms, a small patch of land at the southeastern border, occupied by Israel since the 1967 war and which the UN says it is Syrian land. Hezbollah critics say the land is Syrian but Hezbollah insists it belongs to Lebanon as a pretext to hold on to its weapons.

Many Aoun supporters don't understand how he can ally his secular, mainly middle class Christian party with the religious Shiite group, known to be backed by Iran.

"The Christians are being dragged by Aoun into Iran's struggle against the West. We have become pawns in Tehran's attempt to secure its nuclear programme and spread its influence in the Middle East," Carlos Edde, leader of the small but influential Christian party the National Block, told his supporters in a campaign rally on Thursday.

"If the opposition wins, Lebanon, the democratic, the plural and the model of coexistence will cease to exist and another Lebanon, ruled by [Iranian supreme leader] Ali Khamenei will be born," he warned.

Another Christian candidate, Sami Jumayyel of the Phalange party and son of former president Amin Jumayyel, told his supporters that Hezbollah was "using Aoun as a cover for its plan to make Lebanon a huge rocket launching pad against Israel to defend Iran's interests."

But Aoun's party, the FPM, says his opponents, who have been in power for 15 years, including the leaders of March 14 like Sunni leader Sa'ad Hariri and Druze leader Walid Junblatt and their Christian allies, fear a victory by the opposition would "eventually end their reign of corruption and nepotism."

"They want to stop our campaign for administrative and political reforms and to root out corruption, responsible for maintaining a massive foreign debt," Bassam Al Hashim, a FPM official, told Gulf News.