Opening Up To Michel Sleiman

Foreboding lets some March 14 members accept the candidacy of the Army’s chief.

Man in charge?

“Yes I am taking the course of calm because the Lebanese citizen is frightened of the possibility of confrontation and chaos, and if the opposition doesn’t consider this fear too, they’d be fools because they also have a public opinion”. Thus introduced ex-hawk Walid Jumblat his new openness to the other side and his newly re-found “realpolitik”

The foreboding is not without its causes. The Shiaas are heavily armed and are recruiting furiously, and supporters of the main Sunni faction Almustaqbal are beginning to display their own guns. Yesterday in Tripoli (less than a couple of miles from where this post is written), a previously unknown militia by the name of “Tripoli brigades” — allied to Almustaqbal- got involved in an armed kerkuffle with the loathed pro-Syrian Islamists of Attawhid.The clash was short and the casualties were minimal, but it would have been a much bigger tragedy if it weren’t for the Army’s heavy presence. 

Some see this as an apt metaphor to how a civil war can be prevented. March 14 representatives are joining their constituents in changing their minds about the Sleiman candidacy. Even LF leader Samir Geagea who was previously heavily opposed to the idea answered when asked about his candidacy that “all the options are on the table”. The table being the secret negotiations everyone is having away from the media.

The appeal of Mr. Sleiman is that he seems committed to civil peace before anything else, and in Mr. Jumblat’s logic, this transcends the occasional blind eye Mr. Sleiman turns to Syria. Politicians who have long supported Mr. Suleiman are thrilled. MP. Michel El Murr has forsaken his alliance with Mr. Michel Aoun to visit the serail, dissociate himself from Aoun’s latest initiative and wax praise on Mr. Seniora, Aoun’s nemesis.

According to Mr. Jumblat, what Lebanon needs now is a president who manages the crisis. Discussing our political difference can come later, he said. It doesn’t look too difficult to guess who’s on Mr. Jumblat’s mind.

Related Beirut Spring posts:

• Back in August, I argued precisely for what Mr. Jumblat is doing today • I then Called Mr. Suleiman the inevitable candidate • I also shared an anecdote about him that a reader posted • In September I pinpointed the one word Mr. Suleiman likes to be associated with.