He had promised to be a “strong” president. But his tenure was marked by Lebanon’s economic collapse, an explosion that destroyed Beirut and an unprecedented popular uprising: Michel Aoun left power…
He had promised to be a “strong” president. But his tenure was marked by Lebanon’s economic collapse, an explosion that devastated Beirut and an unprecedented popular uprising: Michel Aoun left power on October 31 in a devastated country.
However, at the age of almost 88, this former army commander-in-chief is determined to continue his political struggle at the head of his movement, the Free Patriotic Movement (LFM).
When he became president in 2016, Michel Aoun promised to fight corruption and presented himself as a “strong president”, a defender of the rights of Christians, the community he came from, who saw his political weight and demographic to decrease.
This burly, outspoken man likes to present himself as the savior of the nation and does not hide his admiration for Napoleon or Charles de Gaulle.
But his unlikely alliance in 2005 with the pro-Iranian Shiite Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian regime that brought him to power, largely damaged his popularity.
And the October 2019 uprising, accompanied by an economic collapse that impoverished almost all Lebanese, further weakened it.
The fatal blow will come from the explosion in the port of Beirut in August 2020 (more than 200 dead), which destroyed entire districts of the capital, due to the storage of hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate without precautions and attributed by the population . the negligence of its leaders.
“The presidency was a disappointment for him too”, admits his nephew, deputy Alain Aoun. “He had to suffer a financial and economic atomic bomb and the explosion in Beirut. Even if he was not responsible for this, he found himself on the front line.”
hard core
But the head of state was locked in denial, according to several people who met him who requested anonymity, even advising disaffected Lebanese to “leave” and warning that the country was heading for “hell”.
His opponents denounce a man driven by “a destructive ambition” who was “ready to do anything to become president”, according to a member of his entourage who later let him go.
This stubborn soldier, however, remains adored by a strong core of his supporters, who see him as an incorruptible figure who is not part of the traditional political class.
“He is a persistent leader who never gives up,” says Alain Aoun, who accompanied him during the dark period of his exile.
Because many thought Michel Aoun was finished in 1990. Appointed in 1988 to head a military government during one of the darkest periods of the civil war, he led two unsuccessful wars against the Syrian army in Lebanon, then against the militia Christian. of the Lebanese Forces.
Ensconced in the presidential palace, he rejects the agreement reached in Taif, Saudi Arabia in 1989 to end the civil war and refuses to hand over power to an elected president.
On October 13, 1990, the Syrian army expelled him from the presidential palace and he was forced to spend 15 years in exile in France, where he founded the CPL, hostile to Syria.
“Political Dynasty”
But the man who had drained the crowds by presenting himself as a champion in the fight against Syrian dominance in Lebanon returned in 2005.
He made a triumphant return to Lebanon, won a landslide in the legislative elections, and in a new twist, in February 2006 he signed a memorandum of understanding with Hezbollah. The new partners blocked the process of electing the head of state for two and a half years.
The father of three daughters, this Maronite Christian of humble origins, fond of classical Arabic poetry, had an illustrious military career before projecting himself into the political arena.
The biggest mistake of his presidency, according to a personality who accompanied him in his political career, was “using the mandate not to crown his career, but to found a political dynasty”.
For this, he favored his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, who held several ministerial posts, prompting opponents to call him a “shadow president” and becoming the most vocal figure in the popular uprising of October 2019, which failed . .
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Damage caused by an explosion in the port of Beirut, August 4, 2020 in Lebanon
• STR
A sign reading “My government did this” on a bridge overlooking the port of Beirut, destroyed by an explosion, on August 9, 2020 in Lebanon.
• ANWAR AMRO
General Michel Aoun addresses the Lebanese from the presidential palace, following the rejection of the agreement reached in Taif to end the civil war, on October 28, 1989 in East Beirut.
• JOSEPH BARS
Michel Aoun makes the victory sign behind bulletproof glass on his return from exile in France May 7, 2005 in Beirut, Lebanon
• RAMZI HAIDAR
