Anti-Syrian Leader Returns to Lebanon

By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Anti-Syrian leader Michel Aoun returned to Lebanon Saturday to the cheers of thousands of his supporters, ending his 14-year exile in France less than two weeks after Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon.

Aoun, a one-time army commander and interim Lebanese prime minister, lost a “war of liberation” against Syrian forces in 1989-90. He was sent into exile in France, but an arrest warrant against him was dropped earlier in the week, clearing the way for his return.

“Today is a day of happiness and joy,” he said at a news conference at Beirut airport. “Lebanon has been under a black cloud that enslaved it for 15 years. Today, there is a sun of freedom. I am coming to look to the future and to build Lebanon together” with the Lebanese.

Aoun, arriving from Paris on a special Middle East Airlines flight with about 100 aides, waved to a small crowd as he emerged from the plane accompanied by his wife, Nadia, and two aides and flanked by bodyguards.

Thousands more supporters, many waving Lebanon’s red, white and green flag, crammed Martyrs’ Square downtown, cheering wildly as a giant TV screen showed Aoun descending from the plane and receiving bouquets of flowers from well-wishers.

Sitting in the airport’s VIP lounge with two grandchildren on his lap and a daughter who kissed him on the head, Aoun’s face showed no emotion but his eyes glittered as he waited for the news conference to begin.

But he quickly snapped at journalists and supporters who mobbed the lounge. “Please listen a bit,” he told the crowd, then shouted: “Shut up!”

Issam Abou Jamra, a former army general exiled with him, sat on his right. Also accompanying him was Edgar Maalouf, another general. The three were members of a military government appointed by President Amin Gemayel in 1988 when Parliament failed to elect a president during the 1975-90 civil war.

Aoun urged Lebanese to set aside their differences. He said he had carried out a long campaign to free Lebanon from Syrian control and that the Feb. 14 assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri accelerated the Syrian troop withdrawal.

Although he traveled to Lebanon on a special passport awarded to him by the government because of his status as a former prime minister, Aoun criticized Lebanon’s leaders for waging a campaign against him since 1990.

He took a swipe at President Emile Lahoud, describing him as “a person who represented a government that has persecuted me for 15 years. Now, I forgive them but I will not thank them.”

Aoun later drove to the city and laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier before visiting Hariri’s grave in downtown Beirut. Next, he was met by thousands of flag-waving supporters in Martyrs’ Square, next to the grave, where crowds hugged and kissed.

Aoun’s return followed the April 26 completion of the Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon. Syria withdrew its forces after a nearly three decade presence under relentless international pressure that intensified after Hariri’s assassination.

Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers demanded Lahoud’s resignation, with at least one blaming him for an overnight bombing in a Christian area north of Beirut that killed one person and injured two dozen others.

The calls followed a Parliamentary session Saturday during which Lahoud, in a message read by the speaker, urged lawmakers to draw up an election law acceptable to all Lebanon’s disparate factions for polls that are supposed to start May 29.

Opposition lawmakers, led by Druse leader Walid Jumblatt, accused Lahoud of presiding over security agencies that they blamed for Friday night’s bombing in the port city Jounieh, 10 miles north of Beirut.

The attack killed a Sri Lankan woman, the state-run news agency said. Police reported two dozen injuries were caused by the blast from an estimated 55 pound bomb placed in a suitcase under a car.

Lahoud has condemned the latest attack, which followed bombings in March and April in Christian districts and strongholds of opponents of Syria’s influence that killed three people and injured 24.