René Moawad

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René Moawad

René Moawad (1925 - November 22, 1989) (Arabic: رينيه معوض) was President of Lebanon for 17 days in 1989, from the 5th to the 22nd of November, when he was assassinated. A Maronite Christian noted for his moderate views, Moawad had given some citizens hope that the long civil war in Lebanon could be ended. Chawki Choveri, Lebanon's UN representative, said that "This is the major catastrophe of the years of catastrophies we have had so far. We may have lost one of the last opportunities to unite the nation." Before he died, Moawad had addressed the nation with these words: "There can be no country or dignity without unity of the people, and there can be no unity without agreement, and there can be no agreement without conciliation, and there can be no conciliation without forgiveness and compromise." He was succeeded by Elias Hrawi.

1 Education and early career
2 Parliamentary career
3 Election and assassination
4 Personal life and legacy
5 External links

[edit] Education and early career

Moawad was educated at De La Salle School in Tripoli, before pursuing his secondary education at the St Joseph High School at Aintoura. He went to Saint Joseph University in Beirut, graduating with a law degree in 1947. He subsequently joined the law firm of Adballah El-Yaffi, a former Prime Minister before opening his own law firm in Tripoli in 1951.

[edit] Parliamentary career

Moawad made his first foray into politics in 1951, when he unsuccessfully contested a Zgharta seat in the National Assembly. Although he was defeated, the election forged a crucial alliance between him and the powerful Frangieh clan, which dominated local politics in Zgharta. He was subsequently elected to the National Assembly in 1957, and reelected in 1960, 1964, 1968, and 1972 - the last parliamentary election held before his election to the presidency (the civil war that raged from 1975 to 1990 prevented further elections from being held in the meantime).

In 1952, Moawad was briefly arrested and detained in Aley for participating in the national uprising that forced the resignation of President Bechara El Khoury, Lebanon's first post-independence leader. He also fell out with Khoury's successor, Camille Chamoun, when the latter hinted at a possible constitutional change to extend his six-year term which was due to expire in 1958. He went into exile in Latakia, Syria. It was during his exile that he won his first election to the National Assembly.

Moawad became a strong supporter of Chamoun's successor, Fuad Chehab. He chaired the Parliamentary Law Committee and the Finance and Budget Committee. He served as Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in the government of Prime Minister Rashid Karami (also a Chehabist) from 31 October 1961 to 20 February 1964. He later served as Minister of Public Works, again under Karami, from 16 January to 24 November 1969, in the presidency of Chehab's successor, Charles Helou. In 1970, however, he broke with the Chehabists to support the election to the presidency of his old ally, Suleiman Frangieh, against the Chehabist candidate, Elias Sarkis. Frangieh won by a single vote.

On 25 October 1980, Moawad returned to the Cabinet as Minister of National Education and Fine Arts, in the government of President Elias Sarkis (who had succeeded Frangieh in 1976) and Prime Minister Shafik Wazzan, a position he held until the expiry of Sarkis's term on 24 September 1982. The strength of his alliance with Suleiman Frangieh was severely tested in that year, when Moawad voted to support Bachir Gemayel, Frangieh's enemy, for the presidency. Despite Frangieh's anger, their friendship was so deep that it survived the test.

[edit] Election and assassination

Following the Taif Agreement to end the civil war, the National Assembly met on November 5 at the Qoleiat air base in North Lebanon and elected Moawad President of Lebanon 409 days after Amine Gemayel vacated this position upon the expiration of his term in 1988. The National Assembly had failed to elect a successor at that time. Seventeen days later, as he was returning from Lebanon's Independence Day celebrations on November 22, 1989, a 250-kg car bomb was detonated next to Moawad's motorcade in West Beirut, killing him and 23 others.

No investigation into the murder has ever been carried out. Sixteen years later, the identity and motives of those responsible remain a matter of debate. Others pointed to Syria: although elected with Syrian support, Moawad refused to be their puppet. Moawad's widow has hinted that she suspects Syria. Returning from the Cedar Revolution protest against the Syrian occupation on 14 March 2005, Nayla Moawad declared, "The independence of Lebanon was regained on March 14, and on March 14 I felt that I avenged (my husband's) assassination."

[edit] Personal life and legacy

As the son of Anis Bey Moawad, who had been mayor of the municipality, and his wife Evelyn Shalhoub, Moawad was the scion of a prominent Zgharta family, but he was the first member of the family to represent the constituency in Parliament.

In 1965, Moawad married Nayla Najib Issa El-Khoury, a relative of Moawad's old political opponent Bechara El Khoury. Despite the historical animosity between their two families, as well as the fact that she was fifteen years his junior, the marriage was evidently a happy one. Their daughter Rima, born 1966, is now a lawyer and a graduate of Harvard University in the United States, while their son Michel, born 1972, is a lawyer and businessman who graduated from Sorbonne University in Paris.

Moawad's widow founded the René Moawad Foundation, to further the goals of dialogue, peace, and social justice, to which he had dedicated his life. Nayla Moawad was elected to the National Assembly in 1991. She is a member of the opposition Qornet Shehwan Gathering, which opposes the Syrian military presence in Lebanon. In 2004 she announced her candidacy for the Presidency to succeed Emile Lahoud, whose term was supposed to end in November.