Exiled Christian politician Aoun returns to Lebanon

PARIS (AFP) – After 15 years in exile, Lebanon’s Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun was to leave Paris to return to his native land, where highly anticipated legislative elections are due to take place on May 29.

“It will be a historic day, full of emotion and joy,” Aoun, Lebanon’s former armed forces chief, told reporters in Paris earlier this week.

Late last month, Syria — which forced Aoun to leave Lebanon in the first place — ended its 29-year military presence in the country, paving the way for him to make a triumphant return.

Making no effort to hide his political ambitions, the 70-year-old told AFP last month that he would be prepared to assume Lebanon’s presidency should a “national consensus” emerge in his favor.

 

Aoun’s homecoming Saturday is concrete proof of the transformation of the Lebanese political landscape since the February 14 slaying of five-time prime minister Rafiq Hariri, which triggered widespread anger at Damascus.

The general remains a controversial figure. He is beloved by supporters in Lebanon’s Maronite Christian community for flying the flag of nationalism while in exile.

But detractors say he prolonged the country’s 1975-1990 civil war by waging war against Syrian troops while serving as interim prime minister from March 1989 to October 1990, when he sought asylum at the French embassy in Beirut.

In August 1991, he was whisked out of the country to France.

Aoun will return to Beirut aboard a specially chartered jet, accompanied by 50 journalists, photographers and cameramen.

Upon his arrival, he will first visit Lebanon’s tomb of the unknown soldier — a symbol of both the country’s suffering during the civil war and the need for national reconciliation. He will then lay a wreath on Hariri’s tomb.

In an effort to link the past, present and future in three simple gestures, Aoun will then address young supporters at Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut, offering his vision of the country’s future.

“I’m coming back as someone who has ended his struggle with the realization of a goal in which I believed and for which I fought: the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon,” Aoun told reporters.

Ahead of Saturday’s homecoming, posters have appeared on the walls of Beirut comparing the event to the triumphant 1945 return from exile of France’s Charles de Gaulle after the explusion of Nazi forces.

“De Gaulle 1945, Aoun 2005,” said one poster.

Lebanon’s courts have removed several legal impediments to Aoun’s return, suspending an arrest warrant against him, dropping several outstanding charges against him and delaying a decision in a 2003 case on other allegations.