Home  News Lebanon's president should be elected at the UN |
|
Lebanon's president should be elected at the UN |
|
|
Written by Chibli Mallat
|
First person by Chibli Mallat
As the center of gravity shifts to the UN, we need to reflect on the allures and dangers of what I have called over-determination, that is, the overbearing nature of international interests on the domestic Lebanese battleground. This conjures up a strong feeling of deja vu. Back in late August 2004, from Sydney, Australia, for the Truth and Responsibility campaign launched with Sadreddin Sadr, the endearing son of Imam Musa Sadr who was "disappeared" in Libya in 1978, I got in touch with a number of leading Lebanese figures, including Walid Jumblatt and Ghassan Tueni.
I wasn't on good terms with Jumblatt at the time, who had accused me of being "a hired pen for Paul Wolfowitz," but I thought the matter was too grave not to try doing something with the better side of the Mukhtara prince. Then the (in)famous UN Resolution 1559 was being discussed in New York with little or no input from Lebanon. So I suggested we meet in New York to help shape the Security Council decision. We know now what the frustrated presidential change in September 2004 meant for the country.
As the situation takes a sharp turn for the worse, I am afraid we need to consider meeting in New York for the presidential elections. By we, I mean all the Lebanese who are ready to do so, and more specifically the MPs who want to cast their vote for a new president without fear for their lives. I had hoped before Antoine Ghanem was assassinated that this would not be needed, but the polarization, which will get worse in the coming few days, compels a safety route that has New York as its natural safe haven.
The need for enhanced security also holds for the declared, serious candidates: Since the Lebanese Parliament will be closed for the occasion, or opened only if the speaker sees fit (and, alas, he is partisan), I prefer for the meeting to be held in the shadow of the UN Security Council (UNSC). So it is time for the council and the UN to realize that they cannot produce resolutions and wash their hands of the consequences. In that case at least, global democracy will have come of age.
Here is a more structured proposal: On the basis of the still unimplemented Resolution 1559 ("the UNSC requests ... free and fair presidential elections in Lebanon without outside influence or interference"), the UNSC president should call upon all the Lebanese MPs, including the oppositional members, to hold their meeting in a safe place and invite them to the UN premises in New York as one possibility.
Why New York? Preferably, it would be Beirut, but can the UN really secure the meeting of MPs in Lebanon short of sending troops? In the same way that we have been forced to have the seat of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon sitting in the Hague, we need that vital democratic occasion for the country's future to happen in the coming few weeks. If one has a better choice than New York, as the seat of the UN, so be it. I cannot think of one, really, that will attract enough attention for the president-elect to rally the immense international legitimacy needed for the country not to split apart.
One side advantage of this proposal is to give every Lebanese faction a democratic voice with international exposure: I can imagine the allure for Hizbullah MPs to be able to visit the US without risk of being arrested and to be seen and heard in a more humane habitat. But this is by the way, and if this proposal develops, I will offer the arguments to the US administration and to the Hizbullah leaders that will make them frown less on the proposal. The more important things are our MPs' security and the security and transparency of the electoral process for what is clearly going to be a unique Middle Eastern weathervane for war and peace. No presidential election in Lebanon means a countdown to certain war, domestic and regional, within weeks. The brinksmanship we have been hearing from the protagonists, domestic and regional, over the past days is a sure indicator of the violence to come if the presidential process is not carried out successfully.
In late August 2004, my suggestion to Jumblatt and Tueni went nowhere. I regret not to have told it to Mr. Hariri. Maybe Rafik Hariri would still be with us, had I behaved more proactively then. At least, this time, I am putting this proposal on the public record.
Chibli Mallat is a lawyer and a candidate for the Lebanese presidency.
By Chibli Mallat
|
|
|
|
