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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
________________Lebanon_______________
Christians back off protest plans
Papal plea for reconciliation
Lebanese Christians announced in April that they would abide by government orders banning the public rallies they had planned to protest against Syria’s heavy presence in the country.
Christian groups had planned to rally in central Beirut to mark the anniversary of the start of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. The protest movement gathered steam last month when Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir of the Maronite Catholic Church began calling for the removal of 35,000 Syrian soldiers from the country, and the end of Syrian influence in the political and economic sectors.
The Syrian soldiers entered the country during the civil war, ostensibly to guarantee Lebanon’s sovereignty after Israeli troops launched an offensive and effectively occupied the southern region of the country. While Israeli soldiers eventually withdrew, the Syrian troops remained in Lebanon, turning the country into a virtual fiefdom of Syria.
The protests against Syrian influence—like the tensions that persist within the Lebanese political system—were organized primarily along religious lines, with Christians opposing the Syrian presence and Muslims defending it. Muslim leaders had threatened to organize counter-demonstrations if the Christians went through with the protest plans, and government leaders were fearful of confrontations.
President Emile Lahoud sent a stern warning to both Christians and Muslims and said he would not allow them to endanger national security and community peace. “It is not permitted in any way to tamper with the security and economic situation in the country,” the leftist As-Safir newspaper quoted a government source as saying. “National dialogue is important and cannot take place in such a tense atmosphere. It could start after all this noise is over,” the source added
In another bid for reconciliation in Lebanon—a country that was once seen as a model for inter-religious cooperation—Pope John Paul II met with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in Rome in late April, just after the Christian leaders backed away from their threats of demonstrations. At the conclusion of their private conversation, the Holy Father made a quick statement in French for the benefit of the waiting press corps: “Vive le Liban—Long live Lebanon!”
Later, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls issued a more extensive statement, indicating that the Pope had emphasized “the importance of reconciliation as an essential element of the human and social rebuilding of Lebanon.” The Holy See has repeatedly voiced concerns about the decline in Christian influence in that country. Prime Minister Hariri was accompanied by representatives of his cabinet and of the various religious groups in Lebanon: Catholic (Melkite and Maronite), Armenian, Muslim (Shi’ite and Sunni), and Orthodox. After meeting with the Pope, the Lebanese delegation also held private talks with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.