TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/120489/12048900.021

Text File | 1992-09-23 | 6KB | 111 lines

                                                                                WORLD, Page 52

LEBANON

A Bomb Aimed at Peace


Just 17 days in office, the new President is killed in Beirut in
another setback for attempts to stop the endless bloodshed


    Mangled metal, crushed bodies, bloody survivors screaming
for help amid& piles of rubble. Last week terrorism showed up
again in its favorite city, Beirut. Rene Moawad, President of
Lebanon for only 17 days and the embodiment of a fragile new
attempt at peace, was decapitated when a remote-controlled bomb,
hidden in a (shuttered shop, exploded as his motorcade passed
by after ceremonies marking the 46th anniversary of Lebanon's
independence. The estimated 550 lbs. of explosives tore trees
out by their roots, hurled the engine block of Moawad's armored
Mercedes 50 yards, shattered windows a mile away and raised a
cloud of brown smoke over the city. In all, 24 people, including
nine civilians, were killed and 36 wounded. "The whole shop was
a bomb," said a Lebanese army intelligence officer.

    Because of the country's instability, the presidency had
been vacant for more than 13 months before Moawad got the job.
Unlike many other legislators, Moawad, 64, a moderate Maronite
Catholic who enjoyed Syria's backing and had served in the
Lebanese parliament since 1957, never fled the country to escape
the civil war. Conciliatory and a persistent negotiator, he was
chosen President in early November by 58 aging Deputies meeting
in the mess hall of an abandoned air base.

    Moawad's election wa,s a crucial step in a peace attempt
brokered last month by the Arab League. The goal was to restore
stability by giving Lebanon's Muslim majority greater powers in
parliament and the Cabinet while reducing those of the
Christian President. Under a new constitution, the President
shares power with parliament, including the selection of a
Cabinet that carefully balances Lebanon's religious sects. The
U.N. Security Council, the U.S. and the European Community
endorsed Moawad's efforts to form a government of national unity
under this revised framework, and he had been making some
progress despite trouble finding Lebanese politicians willing
to serve in the Cabinet.

    Though that progress was slight, the bombers were evidently
determined to destroy it. Many Lebanese speculated that General
Michel Aoun, the bitterest foe of the Arab League peace plan
and the commander of fanatically loyal Christian forces in East
Beirut, was behind the killing. Aoun has been outraged that the
plan permits 40,000 Syrian troops to remain indefinitely in
Lebanon. He had pronounced Moawad's election void and vowed to
throw out the Syrians. Aoun is too weak to achieve that goal but
was strong enough to cause havoc. Before the assassination,
thousands of his mostly youthful supporters crowded into the
courtyard of his bombed-out palace, offering Nazi-style salutes
and chanting "We sacrifice our souls and blood to you, O
General," while riots and a general strike took place in the
territory Aoun controls. He threatened revenge against Deputies
who helped negotiate the peace plan, and seven had their houses
or offices bombed. "I cannot protect them from subversive
elements," said Aoun, who, to avoid Moawad's fate, rarely leaves
his bunker.

    Aoun denied responsibility for the assassination, branding
it a "loathsome crime," and he is by no means the only possible
suspect. Some Lebanese thought the professionalism of the
bombing signaled a foreign intelligence service in action. Iran,
Israel and Iraq were leading candidates, since each backs
militant Lebanese factions that could suffer if the plan
succeeds.

    After announcing Moawad's murder on television in a voice
breaking with emotion, Prime Minister Selim Hoss, an
American-trained economist who has survived several
assassination attempts, worked with Hussein Husseini, the
speaker of the parliament, to reconvene the legislature and
select a President. "Each one of us is Rene Moawad," said
Husseini. "We all have the absolute duty to pursue the peace
process until the salvation of the country."

    At a hastily called session, meeting under heavy guard in
the crossroads town of Chtaura, east of Beirut, parliament
elected Elias Hraoui, also a Maronite Catholic, to succeed
Moawad. Hraoui, 59, is a wealthy landowner who has good contacts
with Lebanese Muslims. He promptly appointed a Cabinet of
national reconciliation with representatives from the country's
seven main sects, a major accomplishment. "Of course the
Deputies are frightened," said Boutros Harb, a Christian Deputy.
"But courage is the son of fear."


    Despite the courage of Lebanon's parliamentarians, the fear
in Beirut, spawning an exodus of thousands, is that Aoun's
soldiers might clash with Syrian troops. A Syrian-supported
attack on Aoun's stronghold is likely if, after a face-saving
interval, the general does not accept the new government's
authority. By week's end he had taken no action hostile to the
government beyond denouncing Hraoui's election as illegitimate.
Hraoui, on the other hand, swiftly moved to assert his powers
by dismissing the three-man interim Cabinet that has been
serving under Aoun.

    The skill and resolve of Hraoui and his ministers in
creating a government even before Moawad was buried is a hopeful
sign and shows the depth of Lebanon's yearning for peace. But
Aoun will have to put aside his dream of ejecting the Syrians
if Lebanon is to avoid disintegrating further into the anarchy
sought by Moawad's killers. If Aoun does not, life in the
country will soon resemble life in Thomas Hobbes' state of
nature: "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."