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By Majdoline Hatoum
Daily Star staff
Friday, June 10, 2005
BEIRUT: Lebanon's opposition scaled up its
attack against Free Patriotic Movement leader
Michel Aoun Thursday, accusing him of dealing
with pro-Syrian figures and breaking up the
unity of the country's opposition. The attack
against Aoun is a prelude for a heavy
electoral battle set to take place in the
Kesrouan-Jbeil area of Mount Lebanon between
the FPM leader and the opposition's united
electoral front.
Speaking at an electoral rally in Jdeideh,
opposition MP Nassib Lahoud attacked Aoun's
alliance with deputy Speaker Michel Murr, a
staunch pro-Syrian politician in the country,
and labeled it as an "abnormal alliance."
Lahoud said: "Aoun, regrettably, closed the
door to forming a unity list with
Lebanon's opposition. And yesterday, we heard
him announce a clear alliance with Murr in the
Metn area.
We are saying this is a major political sin.
This alliance is not just against common
national sense; it also hinders the completion
of Lebanese sovereignty and independence."
But Aoun, who has been the staunchest
anti-Syrian opposition figure during his 15
years of Syrian imposed exile in
France, accused the opposition of driving him
to the alliance with Murr.
He said: "I had chosen to have an incomplete
list but they [the rest of
Lebanon's opposition] ganged up against me,
which left me with no other choice."
He added: "I welcome any cooperation with Murr.
If they want to call it an alliance, so be
it."
Aoun also went on with his attack on
opposition figures during the day, saying Saad
Hariri, whose list won unanimously in the
capital's parliamentary elections, was
financing electoral lists all over
Lebanon.
He said: "Every list that is being supported
with money is politically affiliated with Saad
Hariri. Before, we knew that decision making
was tied to [former head of Syrian
intelligence in
Lebanon] Rustom Ghazaleh, but now, we don't
know who Saad Hariri is linked with."
Later on during the day, in an electoral rally
in Ain al-Rummaneh, where the Lebanese Civil
War erupted thirty years ago, Aoun also
defended his political ally in the Baabda-Aley
district of Mount Lebanon, pro-Syrian
politician Talal Arslan.
He said: "Everyone in the opposition today was
part of the Syrian regime in
Lebanon, and they all had turns visiting Anjar
(former headquarters of Syrian intelligence in
Lebanon). They do not have the right to judge
others now."
But opposition Druze leader Walid Jumblatt
refused to answer to Aoun's attacks against
the opposition, saying the FPM leader was
"free to do whatever he wants."
He said: "Aoun is a military man; this is why
he is attacking people in every direction."
He added that he will continue calling for the
resignation of President Emile Lahoud,
stressing there was no way of reaching an
agreement with Lahoud.
"Accepting Lahoud's regime means we are
accepting the remains of the security
apparatus which ruled
Lebanon during Syrian hegemony," he said.
Jumblatt, who heads the PSP had failed to
reach an alliance with Aoun in the Baabda-Aley
district following Aoun's return from exile.
A fierce battle was set to take place between
Jumblatt and Aoun in Baabda-Aley, but
Hizbullah's decision to join Jumblatt's list
in the area tilted the odds in favor of the
Druze leader.
Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah
had met with Progressive Socialist Party
politburo member Wael Bou Faour and opposition
MP Ghazi Aridi during the day, after which Bou
Faour said that Nasrallah's speech on
Wednesday enhanced Lebanese national unity and
reconciliation.
He added: "In return, Lebanese people should
support the resistance and its arms, and
should agree that the resistance is the main
protecting fence for
Lebanon."
Meanwhile, Speaker Nabih Berri welcomed the
statement delivered on Wednesday by Strida
Geagea, wife of imprisoned Lebanese Forces
leader Samir Geagea.
He said: "This is a uniting national position
that benefits the whole of
Lebanon." |
