Amine Gemayel

Amine Gemayel

Amine Gemayel (Arabic: أمين الجميل) (born 1942) was President of Lebanon from 1982 to 1988.

Born in Beirut, Amine Gemayel (IPA: ) [1] is the son of Pierre Gemayel, founder of the Kataeb Party. Gemayel was elected to the presidency by the National Assembly on September 21, 1982, to succeed his brother Bachir Gemayel who had been elected the previous month but had been assassinated before taking office.

After obtaining a law degree, Amine Gemayel concentrated on building up his family's newspaper business. In a 1969 byelection, he was elected to succeed his deceased uncle, Maurice Gemayel, as a member of the National Assembly; he defeated Fuad Lahoud by a margin of 54 percent to 41 percent. In 1972, in the last election to be held for 20 years, he was reelected by a large margin.

While his younger brother Bashir was regarded as a political radical, espousing the expulsion of Palestinian guerrillas from Lebanese soil and a radical overhaul of the political system, and hinting at a possible peace settlement with Israel, Amine Gemayel was considered more moderate. Always a consensus politician, he avoided, at least in his pre-presidential years, alienating Muslim politicians as his brother had done. When Bashir Gemayel was assassinated, therefore, Amine was regarded as a natural choice to bring together both the supporters of his slain brother, and his Muslim opponents.

The presidency proved to be a nearly impossible calling, however. With foreign armies occupying two-thirds of the country (Syria in the north and east, Israel in the south), and private armies independent of government control occupying most of the rest, Gemayel's government lacked any real power. His efforts to reach a peace settlement with Israel were stymied by Syria and by Muslim politicians at home. His government found itself largely unable to collect income tax, as warlords controlling the ports and major cities pocketed the tax take themselves. Many have criticized Gemayel for not moving decisively enough to assert the authority of the government, but others have pointed out that with most of the country under foreign occupation, there was little that he could do. In virtually impossible circumstances, he kept a semblance of constitutional order.

This order began to unravel in 1988. Gemayel, whose term was due to end on 23 September, was constitutionally barred from reelection. Syria, still occupying much of Lebanon, insisted on proposing Michael Daher, who was well-known for his pro-Syrian views, as the new president, but he was unacceptable to Christian politicians, many of whom preferred Dany Chamoun, the son of former president Camille Chamoun, or General Michel Aoun, the commander of the army. Chamoun and Aoun were both unacceptable to Syria and to Muslim politicians in Lebanon. A constitutional crisis developed. Fifteen minutes before the expiry of his term, Gemayel appointed Aoun to the post of Prime Minister, who takes on the role of Acting President if the presidency is vacant. He did so to preserve the tradition that the president, and by implication (in his eyes, anyway) anyone acting in that role, should be a Maronite Christian, but thereby went against the tradition of reserving the premiership for a Sunni Muslim. Muslim politicians and warlords refused to accept the Aoun government, instead recognizing a rival government of Selim al-Hoss, whom Gemayel had dismissed in favour of Aoun.

Hoping that his absence would help to heal the divisions of Lebanon, Gemayel went into exile for the next twelve years, living variously in Switzerland, France, and the United States, where he lectured at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs (1988-1989) and at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2000, however, he returned to Lebanon and began to organize the opposition to the government of President Emile Lahoud, whom he regarded as a Syrian puppet. Thwarted in his bid to regain control of the Kataeb Party, he founded a new political force, Kataeb al-Qaida, which claims to be the true successor to the old Kataeb Party founded by Pierre Gemayel. He also joined the Qornet Shehwan Gathering, a group of anti-government politicians (mostly Christian) leading numerous different political parties. His son, Pierre Gemayel, Jr., was elected to Parliament in 2000, and has established his reputation as a moderate opposition politician.

In 2003, Amine Gemayel attempted to act as an intermediary between U.S. President George W. Bush and the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. Although his efforts to forestall the ensuing Gulf War were not successful, they fuelled speculation that he might be a candidate for Secretary General of the United Nations when Kofi Annan's term expires.

Gemayel has been married since December 1967 to the former Joyce Tyan, with whom he has a daughter (Nicole) and two sons (Pierre and Sami). He is fluent in English and French, and is regarded as a scholar of Classical Arabic.