LIBAN: L'OMBRE PORTEE DU CONFLIT SYRIEN

In: Politique internationale: pi, Heft 141, S. 1-2

Abstract

Samy Gemayel, 32, is one of Lebanon's youngest political leaders. First elected to the Lebanese Parliament in 2009, he personifies the new order of the Kataeb or 'Phalangist' Party founded by his grandfather Pierre Gemayel in 1936 - a party whose history, like that of his family, is wrapped up in the history of Lebanon. Interviewed here by Sibylle Rizk, Samy Gemayel condemns the weakness of his country's institutions and drives home the need to amend the Constitution in the interests of greater decentralization, or perhaps even federalism. He particularly warns of the dangers of a new flare-up: the war raging in neighboring Syria threatens to spill over into Lebanon at any given moment, and the mutual sectarian hatred in the country between Sunni and Shia still burns strong. Samy Gemayel is a firm believer in strict neutrality. He appeals to his countrymen to stay out of conflicts that do not concern them. Adapted from the source document.