November '96 News
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November 1 - 10 ' 96 Lebanon.com News Wire
November 11 - 20 '96 Lebanon.com News Wire
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BEIRUT, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- France will replace the United States at the head of a five-nation panel monitoring the conflict in southern Lebanon, under an arrangement where the presidency rotates between the two countries every six months, Lebanese security sources said Saturday.
France will preside for the six months beginning Dec. 1, the sources said.
The committee which also includes Lebanon, Israel and Syria, has met more than six times upon the request of the protagonists.
Both Israel and Lebanon have lodged complaints with the panel, which urged the two sides to exercise self-restraint and take additional precautions to avoid engaging in military activities in populated areas in southern Lebanon.
The panel was set up under the April 26 accord that halted Israel's offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The accord codified rules of engagement as both sides agreed not to attack civilians or use them to shield their forces. But it was not a cease-fire because the combatants retained the right to attack each other in the Israeli-occupied security zone in south Lebanon.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah is the most active of the hard-line groups that oppose the Middle East peace process and seek to force Israel to withdraw from occupied territories.
Their chief target is Israel's 9-mile-deep (15-km) buffer zone set up inside southern Lebanon in 1985 to protect northern Israel from guerrilla attacks.
About 1,000 Israeli soldiers and Israel's 1,800-strong South Lebanon Army militia ally control the enclave.
The government of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri had banned the demonstrations. About 55 other demonstrators arrested during Thursday's clashes with security forces have been freed, the sources said.
Lebanese newspapers condemned Friday the security forces' behavior during Thursday's demonstrations in Beirut, which turned violent when police allegedly assaulted protesters and journalists.
Nearly 1,000 people demonstrated in the capital and other towns against a government cutback on media licenses. Protesters also accused Lebanese leaders of neglecting social needs while rebuilding the country from the 1975-90 civil war.
The government has granted licences only to four private television stations and six radio stations out of some 100 currently operating, along with one government run television and radio station.
All others were supposed to close down Saturday, but a legislative recommendation left the door open for extension until they present new applications to obtain licences.
The 11 detainees could be charged with ``resisting policemen on duty, violating a government ban on demonstrations, and carrying guns,'' a source said.
Thousands of soldiers and anti-riot police officers confronted the demonstrators as they marched toward the governmental palace.
Union leaders, former National Assembly members, and foreign and local journalists were among those beaten or held by police for questioning.
The General Labor Union denounced Friday the ``savage'' clampdown of security forces ``against civilians without any justification.''
It called for the immediate release of all detainees, saying they had been arrested while ``only exercizing their constitutional right of free expression.''
The newspaper Ad Diyar accused Prime Minister Hariri of ``confiscating freedom.''
``Liberty battled yesterday in Beirut's streets to defend itself,'' the newspaper said.
The Al Anwar newspaper said that Lebanon was becoming ``a police state.''
``Banning demonstrations is not a mere joke...but one link in a complete circle that starts with political oppression and economic injustice and ends with social misery,'' the newspaper said.
Soldiers and police, backed by tanks, took up positions at main intersections, searched cars and pedestrians and blocked roads to prevent demonstrators from reaching their main target -- the governmental palace.
Protesters released a statement saying ``security forces attacked and clashed with demonstrators, arresting some of them and wounding others.''
The Internal Security Forces had ordered citizens to keep off the streets from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. News reports described the restrictions as a ``partial curfew.''
Interior Minister Michel Murr said some 50 people were detained in various parts of the country after ``confronting the security forces.''
Security sources they were being held for questioning and might be released during the night.
Murr praised the Army ``for preventing any attempts to disturb security.'' He said most people had ignored the strike call.
``Today was a normal working day,'' he said.
Witnesses in Beirut said journalists were among those beaten or held by police for questioning.
The Paris-based organization Reporters Sans Frontieres denounced in a statement ``the aggression'' by anti-riot police.
It said a woman reporter for a French news agency was ``beaten and kicked by a policeman although she did say she was a journalist.''
It said police also confiscated the equipment of a Saudi TV cameraman and a photographer for the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper.
Nearly half of the shops, businesses and schools were closed in Beirut, the capital, and other parts of the country. Banks were open as normal.
The General Labor Union's president, Elias Abu Rizk, called for people to take to the streets in the one-day strike, despite a government concession on TV and radio stations Wednesday night in the National Assembly.
The strike was called to protest the government's multibillion-dollar reconstruction program, which the union said is funded at the expense of Lebanon's social problems, housing and public amenities.
The union also protested a law cutting the number of radio and TV stations to 16 from more than 100. The government has called the law a reorganization of Lebanon's news media, but the union said it was a bid to silence the opposition.
The five TV stations granted licenses under the law are tied to government officials, including Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri and Interior Minister Michel Murr.
Hariri agreed Wednesday night to suspend a decision on closing unlicensed stations and ordered a review of applications for licenses by excluded stations.
Also Wednesday night, his government won a vote of confidence from parliamentarians after the prime minister defended his policies.
He argued that Lebanon's economy had improved tremendously since he gained power in 1992.
He pledged to carry out administrative reforms and purge corruption- plagued public institutions, upgrade standards in public schools and attract investment.
Lebanon, once a magnet for foreign tourists and investors, was devastated by a 15-year civil war that erupted in 1975. Since Hariri took power, the country has been struggling to rebuild.
BEIRUT, Lebanon Nov 29 (Reuter) - Police and troops snuffed out an anti-government demonstration in Beirut Thursday as a general strike partially closed down the Lebanese capital but had little impact on the rest of the country.
Baton-wielding police made 70 arrests as they dispersed several hundred demonstrators trying to march in protest against Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri's government, security sources said.
Hours later, opposition groups, labor unions, students and media workers, the forces behind the call for the protests, said in a statement they would sue the authorities saying they breached the constitution by barring the demonstrations.
They also demanded the release all those arrested. During the morning protest, groups of demonstrators totalling up to 500 people shouted, ``Bread, education, freedom,'' before fleeing a massive deployment of soldiers and riot police.
Some shouted, ``Down with Hariri,'' the billionaire prime minister who has been accused of ignoring social issues while masterminding Lebanon's multibillion dollar reconstruction drive for the past four years.
The protest took place hours after Hariri won a resounding victory in parliament with a 102-19 vote of confidence for his new government, his third since 1992.
Hariri heard tough criticism from opposition deputies in a three-day confidence debate on the government's policy but he told the house Wednesday night the economy had improved dramatically during his time in office.
Opposition groups, labor unions, students and media workers called the protests, saying Hariri had failed to improve social conditions and accusing him of impoverishing the country. They were also protesting against a decision to close scores of radio and television stations, and demanded the lifting of a three-year-old ban on demonstrations, which they call illegal.
The government has refused to lift the ban, but Hariri has promised his new government will give priority to social issues like education, transportation, housing and employment. He also agreed Wednesday to postpone the shutdown of most private radio and television stations until a broadcast committee rules on outstanding applications for licenses.
No new deadline was set for closing the stations that had been due to shut by Saturday under a new audiovisual media law. The opposition complain all opposition radio and television stations, including some of Lebanon's most successful, have been refused licenses in a deliberate attempt to muzzle the media. They also say the decision to give licenses to stations owned or controlled by establishment figures, like Hariri, amounts to a carve-up of the broadcasting industry.
The government flooded much of Beirut with soldiers and police to prevent the planned demonstration, but it held back from giving the army power to impose a curfew as it did when faced by similar strike and protest calls in February.
Schools and most stores closed in Beirut, but banks and many businesses opened and the airport was unaffected. The strike was partial in other cities.
BEIRUT, Nov 29 (Reuter) - Lebanese riot police broke up a march by several hundred protesters shouting ``Bread, education, freedom'' during an anti-government demonstration in Beirut on Thursday.
Reuters reporter Sultan Sleiman saw 150 police halt some 500 protesters in a narrow sidestreet in the capital and club them with batons before dragging some of them to waiting jeeps. At least three young men and a girl were beaten and dragged by their hair before being carried into jeeps after the police waded into the demonstrators.
Dozens of soldiers following the demonstrators cut off their retreat as the police charged but did not intervene as they scattered.
The demonstration took place during a partially effective general strike called by a broad spectrum of opposition groups, labour unions, media workers and students against the policies of billionaire Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
They were protesting against a permanent ban on demonstrations which they say is unconstitutional, a government decision to shut scores of private radio and television stations by Saturday, and what they call Hariri's ineffective policies on social issues.
Schools and most shops were closed in Beirut but banks and financial markets opened for business as usual.
BEIRUT, Nov 29 (Reuter) - An international share issue by Solidere, Lebanon's biggest company, fell short of its target but Beirut bankers said on Thursday the $77 million issue was a significant achievement.
Solidere said the issue of Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) was oversubscribed but the company scaled back allocations, restricting them to medium- and long-term investors.
``Subscription orders reached a total of $140 million from international investment funds and institutions,'' the company said in a statement. ``A total sum of $77 million only of the total subscription orders was allocated to funds that follow a medium or long term investment policy,'' it added.
According to market sources, Solidere had planned to issue 10 million GDRs worth $115-125 million, giving non-Arabs their first chance to invest in the company's reconstruction of Beirut's city centre.
Instead, it sold 6.7 million GDRs at $11.50, each representing one-tenth of a Solidere A <SOLA.BL>share. It was Solidere's first venture on the international market since its heavily oversubscribed $650 million share flotation in January 1994 which was limited to Lebanese and Arab investors.
The issue was the first major deal out of Lebanon not targeted at Lebanese money abroad. Market sources said demand from the United States and Europe was ``very strong.'' The GDRs were quoted on Thursday in London on SEAQ, the Stock Exchange Automated Quotations system, at $11.50-$11.70 but the underlying A shares fell in Beirut to $111.875 and $113.625 at the Beirut Stock Exchange's two fixings from $113 and $114.25 on Wednesday.
Michel Aramouni of Banque Audi's Treasury and Capital Markets said Solidere achieved its target of issuing a large slice of GDRs to international investors not eligible under Lebanese law to buy the underlying shares.
``In that sense it is a success but we can't talk about it as a hot issue,'' Aramouni said.
A Beirut trader who asked not to be identified called the shortfall ``a bit of a blow'' but said that selling GDRs worth $77 million was a success in itself for Solidere.
But another trader said: ``The issue came in at the low end of the pricing and volume. Investors bought for $77 million and that's a significant amount, but it didn't go as well as expected.''
He said he was not convinced that Solidere did not allocate 100 percent of the demand in order to exclude hot investors who would take very quick profits. ``I don't buy that too much, frankly,'' he said.
Market sources said although the deal was heavily oversubscribed it was not sufficient to justify an issue of the size originally intended.
``They wanted a position where there was after-market demand...In order to have sufficient after-market demand they didn't want people to get all the allocation they asked for.
That's why they scaled back the issue,'' one source said. ``The vast majority of the demand came from U.S. and European investors. This was a deal targetted at international investors and there was very strong demand among them,'' he added.
``The issue has gone well with each GDR priced at $11.5, or $115 per, '' the statement said. It said trading began on Wednesday with the prices closing between $11.5 and $11.7.
Merril Lynch, which is managing the GDRs issue for Solidere, said 90 percent of the GDRs were sold to premium U.S. and European investment companies.
The GDRs enable Solidere to place an international share offering despite the company's strict bylaws which decree that only Lebanese and Arabs can purchase the company's shares.
BEIRUT, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- German experts who inspected 36 containers of contaminated plastic waste dumped in Lebanon recommend that Germany take it back, Lebanon's prosecutor-general, Adnan Addoum, said Thursday.
``They told me that they will include in their report a recommendation to the German government to repatriate the waste at their own expense,'' he said after meeting with the three inspectors.
``They are convinced now that the waste is bad, and they promised to have a positive response with regard to retrieving it,'' Addoum said.
The experts inspected the material Wednesday and Thursday at Beirut's port.
A German Embassy spokeswoman said the group was leaving Lebanon on Friday and would report to the German government shortly afterward.
The team was led by an official from the Environment Ministry in Baden-Wuerttemberg, the state in southern Germany where the waste originated.
Lebanese customs officials impounded the containers last month, provoking strong calls for its repatriation. Several European countries have shipped other hazardous waste to Lebanon, particularly during its 1975-90 civil war.
The order exempted authorized bodyguards escorting government officials but would remain in effect until further notice, Dalloul said.
The union has protested the government's multibillion-dollar reconstruction spending at the expense of Lebanon's social problems, such as housing and public amenities. The government has been trying to rebuild from the 1975-90 civil war.
Unionists also object to a new law that cut the number of radio and TV stations from more than 100 to 16.
The government said the law had been aimed at reorganizing Lebanon's news media, but the union called it a bid to silence the opposition.
The union planned to take its protest onto the streets, despite a government ban on demonstrations, which Interior Minister Michel Murr said Wednesday was still in force.
The army has not yet said whether it would impose a curfew on Beirut, as it did in February for a similar union strike and demonstration.
BEIRUT, Lebanon Nov 28 (Reuter) - The government of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri won a vote of confidence in parliament Wednesday after a three-day debate despite attacks from some members who criticized its policy statement.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said 102 members of 121 present in the 128-seat house voted for the government, which was formed on Nov. 7, while 19 voted against.
The government is the third in four years headed by Hariri, a 52-year-old billionaire tycoon spearheading Lebanon's reconstruction after the 1975-90 civil war.
During the debate some deputies said the policies of Hariri's two previous governments had impoverished the Lebanese. Hours before the confidence motion, Lebanese troops began deploying in Beirut to stop planned anti-government demonstrations Thursday during a general strike called by labor unions and opposition groups.
Firebrand leftist deputy Najah Wakim stuck to his guns and repeated his accusation that the Lebanese government hid behind Syria whenever it wanted to breach the country's laws and constitution.
Wakim said it was time to clear up the relationship between Lebanon and Syria, which has 35,000 troops in the country and is its main power broker.
The 52-year-old Greek Orthodox politician is one of the liveliest critics of billionaire Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in parliament. He made the accusation against Lebanon's political establishment Tuesday in a hard-hitting speech during a confidence debate on Hariri's new government.
``Whenever they take an unconstitutional decision to suppress freedoms and oppress people, officials go to Damascus to give the impression that the decision is backed by Syria,'' Wakim said.
It was the first time in years that the taboo issue of Syria's hold over Lebanese affairs has been raised in the overwhelmingly pro-Syrian Beirut parliament.
Officials rarely take decisions without going to Damascus for discussions while Lebanese nationalists bitterly accuse the government of frittering away the country's sovereignty.
Anwar el-Khalil, a pro-Syrian deputy, said Wednesday Wakim's remarks were contrary to Arab nationalism and should be deleted from the parliamentary record.
Assem Kanso, who is a member of the national leadership of Syria's ruling Ba'ath party as well as a Lebanese parliamentary deputy, warned Wakim against attacking Hariri and Syrian leaders.
``Your speech reached a level that raises questions about conspiracy,'' Kanso said. ``You should reconsider and go back to your previous (Arab) nationalist stance that we all know.''
Wakim, who last year walked out of parliament saying it was ``dead'' and failing to control the government, refused to budge.
``No speech can be deleted from the record and I insist on every word I said yesterday,'' he declared.
He said Tuesday that Lebanese officials sometimes acted with the backing of individuals or groups in Syria while implying that they had the support of the Syrian government.
BEIRUT, Nov 28 (Reuter) - Lebanon's biggest company Solidere <SOLA.BL> made a $77 million international share issue on Wednesday that gave non-Arabs their first chance to invest in the firm's reconstruction of Beirut's city centre.
The GDR issue was smaller than the expected $115-$125 million but Beirut bankers said they were not discouraged with Solidere's first venture onto the international market since its initial $650 million share issue in January 1994, which was restricted to Lebanese and Arab investors. That issue was heavily oversubscribed.
Jean-Yves Mallat, Head of Private Banking Group for ING Bank in Beirut, told Reuters Solidere issued 6.17 million Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) on Wednesday at $11.50 each.
The initial trade on a market made by ING Barings was $11.75 and the current bid-offer price was $11.50-$12.00, Mallat said. Another Beirut banker said the highest price he saw on the secondary market during the day was $11.65.
Each GDR represents one-tenth of a Solidere A <SOLA.BL> share, which traded on the Beirut Stock Exchange at $113 and $114.25 on Wednesday's two fixings.
GDRs are receipts that can be readily traded abroad, avoiding the registration complications of trading the underlying shares which they represent. However, because of ownership restrictions, the Solidere GDRs represent an economic interest in the underlying shares, rather than the shares themselves, according to market sources.
The issue was lead managed by Merrill Lynch International with co-lead managers ING Barings, Robert Fleming and Co, UBS Ltd and Paribas Capital Markets.
Market sources said earlier this month that Solidere planned to issue 10 million GDRs on November 26 for an expected value of $115-$125 million.
The company has so far made no statement on the issue that it marketed in roadshows in the United States, Geneva, Paris, Kuwait, Scotland, London, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia.
A Beirut banker said the size of the issue was ``bad news'' when compared with the original target. But when looked at in detail, ``I think it's a good issue,'' he said. ``It's the first time Solidere is going into the international market and they are a new company. It's a longterm investment and they didn't allocate 100 percent of the GDRs investors asked for,'' he added.
``They wanted to exclude hot investors who would take very short term profits, so they only allocated about two-thirds of the demand.''
This meant there was demand for the GDRs on the secondary market, the banker said.
``The price is cheap so it should interest investors who didn't buy on the primary market,'' he added.
The five members of the band, who arrived in Lebanon late Tuesday, held a press conference at Beirut's Hard Rock Cafe in which they expressed enthusiasm over performing for the first time in the Middle East.
``Thank you for the very nice welcome in Lebanon,'' said lead singer Klaus Meine. ``It is very exciting to come to a place which has changed or is in the process of changing like Beirut,'' he said.
Referring to the group's song ``The Winds of Change'' about changes that took place in the former Soviet Union in 1989, Meine said: ``We might have a song about the winds of change that have swept through Lebanon, why not?''
The group will be filming a video clip in Lebanon on a new version of its hit song ``When you came into my life.''
The group will be performing for only one night, Saturday, at the Forum de Beirut. Tickets on sale range between $30 and $40. Local media described the Scorpions' visit as the most important rock event in Lebanon's history.
BEIRUT, Nov 28 (Reuter) - Hizbollah on Tuesday threw its weight behind opposition calls for a general strike and protest demonstration on Thursday against the government of Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
The pro-Iranian Shi'ite Moslem movement issued a statement calling on citizens for ``responsible participation in the general strike and peaceful demonstration on November 28.''
It said the protests were against ``the worsening economic and social crisis, the government's gradual suppression of liberties, the ban on demonstrations and the selective application of the audiovisual media law.''
A broad spectrum of opposition groups, labour unions and media workers issued the strike and demonstration call last week in protest against what they called ``violations of freedom and democracy'' by the government.
The opposition has been galvanised by a government decision to close most of Lebanon's private radio and television stations -- including all opposition stations -- by November 30 under a law regulating the audiovisual media.
Opposition politicians have denounced the government's decision to grant a handful of licenses to stations owned by or connected with Hariri and other establishment figures as a carve-up of the media and deliberate gagging of the opposition.
Hariri's government has banned public demonstrations since 1993 and the interior ministry said on Monday that Thursday's planned demonstration will not be allowed to go ahead.
Last February the government called out the army to quash a general strike and demonstration. Troops imposed a curfew on most of the country to stop the protests from taking place.
Hizbollah has many thousands of supporters in Beirut's predominantly Shi'ite Moslem southern suburbs and massive participation in the protest could lead to a clash with security forces.
The last time Hizbollah militants marched in a Beirut demonstration on September 13, 1993, -- in protest against the Oslo peace accord between Israel and the PLO -- the army was called out and troops opened fire, killing nine marchers and wounding 30.
Hizbollah guerrillas are fighting to oust Israeli troops from a south Lebanon occupation zone and the group's supporters are highly organised and committed.
Tens of thousands regularly turn out to attend the funerals of guerrillas killed in the south.
BEIRUT, Lebanon Nov 28 (Reuter) - A senior Lebanese official Tuesday said Beirut should appeal to the U.S. courts for compensation for 13 people injured in south Lebanon by U.S.-made shells fired by Israeli troops.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri made the suggestion during a debate on the government's policy statement. He referred to a decision by a five-nation group monitoring a cease-fire agreement in south Lebanon that Israel was responsible for bombarding Safad al-Batikh village in October, injuring 13 people.
The monitoring group, set up to oversee a U.S.-brokered cease-fire that ended a 17-day Israeli blitz on Lebanon in April, includes representatives of the United States, France, Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
``The (Monitoring Group's) statement on Safad al-Batikh was clear in putting the responsibility on Israel. Let's benefit from this by having a lawsuit on this matter,'' Berri told parliament.
Berri is a former civil war militia leader whose Shiite Muslim Amal movement sometimes attacks Israeli forces in south Lebanon.
The April cease-fire that the five-nation group monitors bars attacks on or from civilians areas but allows attacks on Israeli troops occupying a south Lebanon border zone and gives both sides the right of self-defense.
In a rare gesture of defiance from the 128-member house that is dominated by supporters of the pro-Syrian government, leftist Zaher el-Khateeb tore up the statement.
``This statement is unworthy of anything except tearing up in pieces and here I am tearing it up in front of you,'' he told parliament.
Outside, 150 people protested a government decision to close scores of private radio and television stations by Nov. 30 and issue broadcasting licenses to only a handful of stations mostly owned by Hariri and establishment figures. ``No nation without freedom of expression,'' said a banner carried by a demonstrator. Under the government's action all stations opposed to the government will be closed.
Opposition groups and trade unions have called a general strike and demonstration Thursday to protest the media law, a ban on demonstrations imposed by Hariri three years ago and his perceived lack of social policies.
The policy statement sets social policies as a priority, emphasizing housing, medicare, social security and transportation as well as agriculture, industry and tourism.
Parliament will hold a vote of confidence on the government Wednesday after a three-day debate on the proposals.
Christian deputy Nasib Lahoud, a former ambassador in Washington, said he would vote against the government. He called its statement a series of headlines devoid of practical measures to stop corruption and improve the social situation.
Parliamentary newcomer Issam Fares, like Hariri a billionaire tycoon and not considered an opponent of the government, also called the government proposals fragmentary and said Lebanon needed a real economic plan. Fares said the monetary stability Hariri had brought Lebanon was artificial and had raised a danger of stagnation without improving growth or living standards.
Former prime minister Selim al-Hoss said corruption was ``settled'' in the administration and politics. He cited a Reuters report during the parliamentary elections in which a reporter saw Hariri supporters paying people 100,000 Lebanese pounds ($64) to vote for him.
German Embassy first secretary Wolfgang Lerke said the three experts would seek to ``establish how it was smuggled from Germany to Lebanon and to what extent the waste is contaminated.''
The disclosure last month that customs officials had impounded the containers provoked condemnation from state prosecutors and environmentalists. There have been several cases of European countries shipping waste to Lebanon.
``There is no doubt that the waste came from Germany,'' Lerke told United Press International. ``Some containers came directly to Beirut and others came via Italy.''
He declined to give an indication that the German government would take back the waste.
``Germany is a signatory of the Basel Convention and is under the obligation of implementing its terms,'' Lerke said when pressed on whether his government would repatriate the waste. Under the 1994 Basel Convention, industrialized countries are barred from exporting toxic and hazardous waste to developing countries.
Lerke said that among the experts was an official from the Ministry of the Environment in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the southern province where the waste originated.
He said the team ``will probably take some samples with them back to Germany for further testing.''
``Many persons, including businessmen from both sides, are apparently implicated in this issue and we want to clarify that,'' Lerke said.
Fouad Hamdan, spokesman for the Lebanese branch of the environmental watchdog Greenpeace, said Baden-Wuerttemberg officials were unclear about Lebanon's demand for the waste to be shipped back to Germany.
``I was in Germany last week, but I could not get any straight answers from them,'' Hamdan said.
``They seem to be willing to take back the containers of contaminated waste and leave the less contaminated ones in Lebanon,'' Hamdan said.
This was unacceptable, he said. ``All the containers are the same. They were exported to Lebanon illegally and they should all go back to where they came from.''
In 1994, Greenpeace started a campaign to remove Italian waste. In April, after months of agitation, the government collected 77 tons of toxic waste and contaminated land and shipped them back to Europe.
``This is the first time that someone from Lebanon and the Arab states has reached this post after it was limited to major European and American countries,'' Kassar, a banker, told a news conference in Beirut on Monday.
He said Nestle <NESZn.S>chairman Helmut Maucher was elected president by an ICC general assembly in Turkey between November 20-23, to succeed Rahmi Koc. Kassar will become president for two years after his two-year term as vice president, he added.
The following Arab states' chambers of commerce are ICC members: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Tunisia and Morocco.
The team is headed by former Saudi minister of industry Abdel Aziz al-Zamel and includes representatives of 20 Saudi companies.
The delegation is scheduled to hold talks with senior Lebanese officials, including Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Minister of Economy and Trade Yasin Jaber, on possibilities of investing in Lebanon's multi- billion-dollar reconstruction projects.
They said Tony Nahra was gunned down near his house in the village of Simya in the Jezzine area which is officially outside Israel's south Lebanon occupation zone but under Israeli and SLA control.
In Beirut, Hizbollah (Party of God) said in a statement that one of its commando units ``executed'' 40-year-old Nahra before midnight as he returned from the SLA headquarters at Marjayoun inside the zone.
``A unit of special forces...carried out the execution of SLA agent Tony Nahra in Jezzine area...When his motorcade arrived at the area of the ambush, the strugglers rained down machinegun fire on it, implementing God's sentence,'' the statement said.
``All members of the unit returned safely,'' it added. The pro-Iranian group said it ``warns the rest of the agents of the same fate...and calls them anew to repent and move quickly to the liberated area (outside the zone) or else the arm of the Resistance is long -- very long.''
The 3,000-strong SLA militia helps some 1,000 Israeli troops hold a 15-km (nine-miles) -deep occupation zone in south Lebanon to protect northern Israel from guerrilla attacks.
The SLA fatality brought to 19 the number of militia members killed this year by guerrillas. Hizbollah fighters have also killed 24 Israeli soldiers this year in their bid to oust the Israeli forces from the zone.
RASHAYA, Lebanon, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A Lebanese civilian was wounded Monday in a roadside bomb blast in the occupied border zone of southern Lebanon, Israel's allied South Lebanon Army militia said.
The bomb exploded on a road near the Jizzine area of Israel's self- proclaimed security zone, the SLA's Voice of the South radio station said.
The driver was wounded and his car damaged, the radio said. It did not say who might have planted the device. Israel established the 9-mile-deep (15-km) security zone in 1985 to protect its northern territory from guerrilla attack. About 1,000 Israeli soldiers and the 1,800-member SLA militia patrol the enclave.
A number of Lebanese and Palestinian groups are engaged in a guerrilla war in an attempt to force Israel out of southern Lebanon and other occupied Arab territories.
BEIRUT, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- President Elias Hrawi said more than 200 Lebanese citizens are held in Syrian prisons on charges of collaborating with Israel.
He said he learned of the imprisonments from one of the prisoners, who was released recently.
``We have submitted a request for the release of the prisoners in Syria,'' Hrawi said at a meeting Sunday evening with students, journalists and artists at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut.
``Many have been actually released, but I was told by the last liberated prisoner that there are still 10 Christians and 200 Muslims imprisoned,'' he said.
They were jailed after being ``accused of collaborating with the Israeli enemy,'' he said.
Syria is a main power broker in Lebanon, where it bases at least 35, 000 troops over two-thirds of the country. Israel occupies a 9-mile (15- km) security zone in southern Lebanon.
Commenting on the stalemated Middle East peace process, Hrawi said he hoped that President Clinton would make extra effort during his second term to bring about a peaceful settlement in the region.
The suspect, a 72-year-old Kurd holding a Greek passport, was arrested as he tried to board a plane Friday evening bound for Brussels, police said.
Drugs worth $ 50,000, were concealed inside the double-layer bottom of his suitcase.
The man was taken into police custody for interrogation, police said.
On Nov. 5, Lebanese police seized about 285 pounds (130 kg) of Colombian cocaine smuggled into Lebanon through Beirut port and arrested 15 suspected traffickers, including a Lebanese soldier.
During the 1975-90 civil strife, Lebanon was known as one of the world's major producers of hashish. Heroin was also grown and processed on a large scale in the country's eastern Bekaa valley.
Lebanon, with the help of Syrian troops stationed in the eastern region, has destroyed large fields of hashish and opium since the end of the civil war, as part of its fight against drug cultivation and processing.
RASHAYA, Lebanon, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Lebanese and Syrian army intelligence officers have found an arms cache in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, Lebanese security sources said Saturday.
The sources said the joint intelligence force found the cache in the village of Saghbin in a deserted house belonging to a deceased man identified as Habib Kahwaji.
Arms found included land mines, 20 cases of ammunition, mortar rockets and bullets for Russian-made Kalashnikov automatic rifles, the sources told United Press International.
No suspects were arrested during the raid that took place Thursday, the sources said.
The raid came days after President Elias Hrawi ordered Interior Minister Michel Murr to clamp down on outlaws following recent acts of looting and theft.
Also Saturday, police said at least 40 people holding Sudanese and Egyptian passports were rounded up for illegally infiltrating the Lebanese border in the north Lebanon region of Akkar.
Police said they have also arrested 20 Lebanese inhabitants of the region for aiding the illegal entry of foreigners in return for money.
BEIRUT, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Lebanon celebrated its 53rd independence anniversary Friday amid hopes the country would be rid of foreign occupation and calls for national reconciliation.
A parade by Lebanese Army and Internal Security units was held in the museum area on the demarcation line that divided Beirut into Muslim and Christian sectors during the 1975-90 civil war.
Christian Maronite President Elias Hrawi, Muslim Sunni Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Shiite House Speaker Nabih Berri and senior Lebanese officials and foreign diplomats attended the celebrations.
The Lebanese public expressed mixed feelings about independence, with Israel occupying a border zone in southern Lebanon and some 35,000 Syrian troops deployed on two-thirds of Lebanese territory.
``Independence Day is meaningless as long as we have foreign troops on our land,'' said Fayez a 40-year-old television journalist. ``It should be called the day of occupations not independence,'' he said.
Rania Halawi, a shop owner from the southern port city of Tyre said: ``I will feel real independence when we celebrate it in south Lebanon.''
Halawi said she felt sad about independence under the present circumstances. ``But I hope all foreign troops will leave Lebanon soon and the Lebanese will be able to celebrate their real independence and achieve national reconciliation,'' she said.
Lebanon gained independence from France in 1943.
Since 1985, Israel has maintained a 9-mile wide security zone inside southern Lebanon to protect northern Israel from guerrilla attacks. About 1,000 Israeli troops and 1,800 allied militia members control the enclave.
BEIRUT, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The Casino du Liban, a landmark of international entertainment and gambling in pre-war Lebanon, is set to regain its place among the most luxurious and famous casinos in the world.
With a dream setting that overlooks the spectacular bay of Jounieh, 13 miles (20 km) north of Beirut, the Casino du Liban has been wholly refurbished and re-equipped to cater for the consummate and sophisticated international gambler.
``We have the first and number one casino in the Middle East...It is a small Las Vegas in the heart of the Orient,'' said Habib Ltaif, president of the Societe du Casino which was granted the license to run the casino for the next 30 years.
Ltaif said the lights of the casino will glitter again, lighting up Jounieh's night sky as of Dec. 3, when it will be inaugurated by President Elias Hrawi.
The casino, first established in 1959, was seized at the beginning of the 1975-90 civil war by the Christian Lebanese Forces militia. The militia operated it for years before it was badly damaged in inter- Christian fighting toward the end of the war.
The casino's facade and floors were covered with expensive Italian marble. Baccara crystal chandeliers imported from Canada were put up in the majestic entrance hall and in the gambling rooms, giving the casino a touch of class and luxury.
``We have rebuilt the casino with the most noble and luxurious materials because we want to have a casino of international caliber to attract the most difficult gamblers in the world,'' Ltaif said.
Under the first phase of the casino's reconstruction program, three gambling rooms, five restaurants, a nightclub, eight bars and a 650-car parking lot were completed at a cost of $35 million.
The second phase includes the refurbishing of the 1,200-seat Grand Theatre and the Salle des Ambassadeurs, which would feature Broadway- style musicals. Construction works are expected to end by December 1997.
A five-star hotel, including 150 suites and rooms, will be built in the third and final phase, bringing the total cost of the project to an estimated $60 million, according to Ltaif.
``We have brought in the most modern and sophisticated equipment in the world... We have 60 roulette, black-jack and baccara tables and 308 slot machines imported from Vegas,'' Ltaif said. ``The Casino du Liban is poised to be one of the most advanced casinos in the world on the technical level.''
The Societe du Casino will be running the casino in cooperation with the international London Clubs, famous for operating casinos around the world, and the Lebanese Abella group which specializes in catering.
Ltaif said his company has hired international experts in the business to run the casino, the first major reconstruction project in postwar Lebanon to be completed and become operational.
``The casino will definitely boost the national economy as it created jobs for some 1,000 Lebanese,'' Ltaif said. ``It is also expected to generate income for the government which takes 30 percent tax on net profit,'' Ltaif said.
Lebanese staff, including croupiers, receptionists, cashiers, slot machine technicians and surveillance employees are being trained by 50 European experts.
Vice-President Gaming Nicholas Crabtree of the London Clubs said that the training of Lebanese staff started in March, ``and we hope that within one year the majority of the foreign staff will be replaced by local people.''
Crabtree said the Casino du Liban caters for all classes of clientele with the two main gambling rooms offering chips at 5,000 and 10,000 Lebanese pounds ($3 and $6).
In the private gambling room, where gamblers are admitted by invitation only, the minimum betting is placed at 250,000 pounds ($160) and can go up to 25 million pounds ($16,000) per chip, Crabtree said.
``Through London Clubs marketing, we expect to see a large number of the Gulf Arabs coming back to Lebanon,'' he said. ``The casino is there to be resurrected and I do believe it will give a great boost to the tourist industry.''
Crabtree stressed that the casino is in itself a complete tourist complex.
``You don't have to be a gambler to enjoy yourself in the casino... You can go into the show rooms and theater, or you can dine and drink and have a great time,'' he said.
But there will be no room for casino thieves. The most sophisticated surveillance and security system was installed ``to make sure that professional thieves have a hard time here and go empty handed,'' Crabtree said.
For many Lebanese, the reopening of the casino is viewed as the symbol of Lebanon's resurrection from the 1975-90 civil war. But with the acute economic crisis gripping post-war Lebanon, the casino is bound to become an exclusive place for the rich and famous.
``The majority of Lebanese can hardly afford to have a decent living and they would not even dream of having a glimpse of the casino,'' said Samih, a 40-year-old journalist.
``With the opening of the casino, the big gap between classes in the Lebanese society will become even more flagrant,'' he said.
A recent report prepared by the United Nations Development Fund, UNDP, estimated Lebanon's population at 3.1 million, including 1 million poor and 250,000 living below the poverty line.
Under the casino's law, one should be over 21 years of age to be allowed in the gambling rooms and Lebanese should have an annual income of 24 million pounds ($15,000) to be able to gamble.
BEIRUT, Nov 23 (Reuter) - Banque Libanaise pour le Commerce (BCL) will begin marketing on Sunday a simultaneous domestic and international share offering totalling $50-60 million, market sources in Beirut said on Friday.
Pricing of the issues is expected in the second week of December and the split of the total between them has not yet been decided, a source said.
``Effectively it is the first time any Middle East issuer has done a simultaneous domestic and international share offering,'' he said.
``It's quite a complex transaction....There is a lot of investor interest and curiosity.''
According to a report on BLC by Nomura Equity Research, the issues are part of a group consolidation intended to place BLC among the top four or five banks expected eventually to dominate the Lebanese market.
The international offering is the second by a Lebanese bank following Banque Audi's $34 million GDR issue in October 1995. It will be marketed in comprehensive road shows in the Middle East, Europe, the Far East and the United States.
It will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and on SEAQ (Stock Exchange Automatic Quotations) in London, the source said.
After the issues are completed, BLC plans to become the first company to launch an IPO on the Beirut Stock Exchange since the market reopened in January after a 13-year shutdown.
This, and the expected listings of two other Beirut banks in the near future will give the lacklustre exchange a much-needed boost, Beirut financiers believe.
``The stock exchange listing should take place before the end of the year,'' the source said. Under a law passed earlier this year Lebanese banks are now allowed to list 30 percent of their shares on the BSE and trading can take place without prior central bank permission.
Nomura International has been appointed global coordinator for the capital increase and Beirut merchant banking house Middle East Capital Group (MECG) is lead manager for the domestic offering. The issues will double BLC's capital.
Some $25 million will be used to buy back its Paris subsidiary BLC France which was split away from the parent bank during the Lebanese civil war, the Nomura report said.
BLC France has four branches in the United Arab Emirates and Nomura said the entry the offerings will provide to the UAE market was a major enticement for investors.
``We believe that this is the first real opportunity for international investors to gain substantive exposure to the important UAE banking sector,'' the report said.
BLC, Lebanon's oldest bank, was the country's biggest financial institution before the civil war and still has one of the biggest branch networks.
Nomura said BLC plans to spend $10 million on expanding the network by opening new branches or acquiring one or two of the many small banking operations for sale in Lebanon.
BLC ranked 13th in 1995 among Lebanon's 82 banks in total assets and customer deposits. It is owned 97.4 percent by the Aboujaoude family whose shareholding will fall to 55.6 percent after the capital increase.
BEIRUT, Nov 22 (Reuter) - Lebanese President Elias Hrawi has called for administrative and constitutional reforms in his country, including a new parliamentary elections law.
``The country needs a new law for general parliamentary elections,'' Hrawi said in a speech on Thursday night to mark the 53rd independence day, adding that his seven years in power have shown there was a need for other constitutional reforms also.
The law under which recent elections were held has drawn fire from many politicians, especially Christian opposition leaders who said it discriminated against their community by dividing Lebanon into different-sized electoral areas.
The elections produced a predominently pro-Syrian legislature and the vote was marred by accusations of fraud.
``We call on everyone to work from now to crystallise a law that meets the aspirations of the Lebanese and that can consecrate national reconciliation, true popular representation and a true practice of democracy which all Lebanese stick to,'' Hrawi, a Maronite Christian, said.
Hrawi also said that he will spend his remaining two years in power on trying to rebuild Lebanon's administrative system, which was worn out in the 1975-90 civil war. Beirut newspapers have recently carried reports of scandals at some institutions.
``It is not permissible that the administration remain in its current condition and it is not permissible that the complaints against the administration remain,'' Hrawi said.
He said the first steps towards reforming the administration were ``making it immune from political interference, making inspection organs more effective and applying the rule of reward and punishment.''
BEIRUT, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Lebanese President Elias Hrawi warned Thursday against the continued deadlock in the Middle East peace process and called on Israel to return to ``serious negotiations'' based on the land-for-peace principle adopted by its previous government.
``The deadlock in the peace process is not in Lebanon's interest or the interest of the region,'' Hrawi said in a televised speech on the eve of Lebanon's 53rd independence anniversary. ``It is not in the interest of peace itself.''
Since 1985 Israel has maintained its 9-mile (15-km) self-proclaimed security zone inside southern Lebanon to protect northern Israel from guerrilla attacks. About 1,000 Israeli soldiers and 1,800 allied militia members control the enclave.
Lebanon has pledged not to sign a peace accord with Israel before Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, comes to a peace agreement with the Jewish state. The Syrian-Israeli peace track has been stalled since February.
Lebanon demands an unconditional and complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon while Israel insists that Beirut first disarm the Iran-backed Hezbollah guerrillas.
Hrawi said the struggle for the liberation of southern Lebanon was a ``sacred right.''
``It is our right to resist occupation,'' he said. ``We are people eager to preserve our dignity and sovereignty and resistance will not stop until occupation ends.''
Meanwhile, at a ceremony inside Israel's border buffer zone in southern Lebanon, Israel's coordinator of Lebanese affairs said Israel wants to achieve an ``acceptable and honorable'' peace settlement with Lebanon based on disarming the Islamic guerrillas.
``There is no acute conflict with Lebanon,'' said Uri Lubrani, a senior civil servant who handles Israeli policy and negotiations concerning Lebanon, where Syria controls two-thirds of the country's territory with at least 35,000 troops.
``All pending problems could be resolved through short and objective negotiations that would bring about calm and prosperity'' to southern Lebanon, which would prevent victims on both sides, he said.
Hrawi said Lebanon was committed to peace but will not bow to Israeli conditions to achieve a peace accord.
``Israel has but to stop its intransigence and return to serious negotiations that lead to peace based on international resolutions and land-for-peace principle,'' he said.
He warned that peace would not materialize if Israel ``forces us to choose between the continued occupation of our land and surrender to its conditions.''
Lebanon gained independence from France on November 22, 1943.
Speaking on the eve of Lebanon's Independence Day, Dory Chamoun, leader of the National Liberal Party, urged Lebanese to close ranks and join hands to achieve reconciliation through holding an all-out congress ``that would be crowned by a summit of religious leaders.''
Chamoun was speaking on behalf of the ``National Grouping,'' a coalition of Christian opposition leaders established six months ago and which includes former President Amin Gemayel and rebel Gen. Michel Aoun who are exiled in Paris.
Chamoun said the opposition was not in conflict with any party and did not want to revive the painful memories of the civil strife, ``but we want to seek change through democratic means.''
The opposition also reiterated its call for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon, both Israeli and Syrian, in line with U.N. resolutions providing for Lebanon's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Lebanese Christians are strongly opposed to the presence of some 35, 000 troops in Lebanon and want them to withdraw along with the Israeli forces occupying a border enclave in southern Lebanon.
Chamoun called as well for establishing ``the best possible relations'' with brotherly Arab countries and ``good neighborly'' ties with Syria on the basis of mutual respect of sovereignty and independence and ``not interfering in each other's domestic affairs.''
The loan, at 4.5 percent interest and repayable in 22 years, includes a five-year grace period, and consitutes 45 percent of the total cost of the project, which is expected to begin in spring 1997. Completion is scheduled by the end of 1999.
A similar loan, also for $20 million, was signed in October with the state Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development that will cover another 45 percent of the project. Lebanon will cover the remaining 10 percent.
The three-lane road, linking the port of Beirut with the Death River near Dora to the north, will also have four pedestrian bridges.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., met Assad in the Syrian capital after arriving from Israel. He was expected to return Thursday to Israel with the Syrian response, official sources said.
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa and U.S. Ambassador Christopher Ross also took part in the meeting, said Assad spokesman Jibran Kourieh. Syrian-Israeli peace talks have been suspended since February, despite efforts by the United States to coax the two sides back into direct meetings.
Specter, chairman of the Senate's select committee on intelligence and the subcommittee on foreign operations, visited Damascus in August 1995, where he discussed the peace process and U.S.-Syrian ties with Assad.
The Israeli prime minister drafted his message to Assad after meetings in Jerusalem with U.S. officials in which they discussed negotiations with the Palestinians and the Syrian peace track, Israel radio reported.
Details of the message were not revealed. Sources in Israel, however, said the message probably dealt with recent comments by Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai saying any military offensive by Syria using chemical arms would spark a catastrophic Israeli counterattack.
His comments aroused the anger of the Syrians, sparking another harsh exchange of words between the countries, which have fought each other in three major wars in the last half-century.
A Syrian troop buildup along their border in September was met with concern by Israel. An exchange of vitriol last month led security officials to speculate publicly about the possibility of a new war.
Syrian-Israeli peace talks broke down amid a wave of extremist Palestinian suicide bomb attacks in Israel that killed more than 60 people.
Syria insists that Israel return the Golan Heights, captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, as a condition for peace. Israel demands unconditional talks and a Syrian commitment to full peace with open borders and full diplomatic relations after an accord is reached.
Netanyahu also has said he is unwilling to give up the plateau, which is now home to 13,000 Jewish settlers.
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This page was Last updated on 11/30/96