Serene Assir recounts the life story of one of Lebanon's most influential and forward-looking leaders Business tycoon and former prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri was as much scorned as he was loved by different sections of the still struggling and politically divided Lebanese nation. The various financial and political controversies surrounding his name, the sheer weight of his vast economic empire and his single-minded, business-like approach to how Lebanese post-war political life should be shaped within an incessantly volatile regional context all led to the emergence of such mixed attitudes towards him. Meanwhile, the unconventional route which he took to power in a country emerging from a long and bitter war granted him far greater flexibility -- tantamount to power in a constantly changing country -- than many of his rivals. This, along with his excellent international ties, his rapid reconstruction of Beirut -- for better or for worse -- and his near-constant tenure of the premiership over the past 13 years all contributed to the creation of his status as one of the Middle East's key figures. Born in the southern port town of Sidon to a poor Sunni family in 1944, Al-Hariri broke the classic mould of the Lebanese politician in that he did not emerge from the ranks of a traditionally powerful, landowning family. Instead, he sought to make true his ambitions by following in the footsteps of many lower and middle-class Lebanese and travelled to Saudi Arabia in 1965 -- without having completed his studies in commerce in the Arab University of Beirut, reportedly because he lacked the funds to do so. He spent the following 20 years working in the Gulf kingdom, first as a mathematics teacher in Jeddah, then as an auditor in an engineering company, and then, in 1969, founding his own private enterprise, CICONEST, a construction firm which rapidly prospered as a result of the Saudi oil boom of the early 1970s. It grew by undertaking both public and private contracts, and Al-Hariri's new-found wealth enabled him to purchase the French construction giant Oger, rendering him one of the most powerful men in the business in the Middle East. He finally struck gold in 1977 when he built a hotel in six months on commission by the Saudi royal family, in time to host an Islamic summit, and gained Saudi citizenship in 1978. By the early 1980s he had become one of the world's richest men, according to Forbes magazine's annual ranking, and had both founded and bought off businesses in various sectors, including Lebanese and Saudi banks. Despite his years spent away from home, as soon as he was powerful enough to do so, he began to pour money into Lebanon, which was by then deeply embroiled in conflict. He played a double game: while allegedly funding opposing militias, he also spent money on various healthcare, educational and reconstruction projects, founding the Al-Hariri Foundation in 1979. All the while, he continued to amass wealth abroad, and to build his repertoire of financial and consequently political contacts. As of 1983, recognising that the future of power in Lebanon lay in Damascus, not Beirut, he started to actively work on gaining the favour of the then-President Hafez Al-Assad's government. While his political role in the Lebanese war had begun as emissary of the Saudi regime, during the final years of the war much of his mediation work was between the Damascus regime and the Lebanese militias. In so doing, he would often make use of his economic power to try and broker deals, thus giving rise to the first accusations of corruption that he faced. These were overshadowed in 1989 when he was credited for funding and brokering a "national reconciliation" conference, leading to the signing of the Taif Accords, signed in a Saudi resort town. It came after a long series of failed attempts at reaching an effective and lasting peace agreement. It effectively revised the balance of power as designed by the constitution of the First Republic and allowed for the take-over of political life by Syria, and came to be considered as the keystone marking the end of the Lebanese civil war. Following the 1990 occupation of Lebanon by Syria, Al-Hariri was said to have spent more time in Damascus than in Beirut, where the real stakes lay. He became deeply involved in rapid reconstruction efforts, particularly in Beirut and Sidon. When he returned permanently from Saudi Arabia to Lebanon in 1992, he did so as prime minister, where he was warmly received by many ordinary Lebanese. His economic prowess and his liberal use of even his personal funds to rebuild the war-weary country was the main factor that led to his near- constant hold over power as of this period. Though the Lebanese economy remains shattered to this day, his insistence on the notion that a successful financial sector would lead to the revival of the economy on the whole stuck in a traditionally finance-oriented country. Part and parcel of his policy was the belief that Syria and Lebanon should be mutually dependent. In his thinking, while Syria would contribute to guaranteeing Lebanon's security from Israel, any Lebanese economic success would be tantamount to greater wealth for Syria too. And while this policy was successful to start with, an economic collapse in 1998 led to Al-Hariri's momentary fall from grace with the Syrian government. Indeed, eight years after the end of open conflict in Lebanon, unemployment still soared, inflation had begun to climb again following a stabilisation of the pound in the early 1990s, and the Lebanese became highly critical of the corruption of the government. In order to gain internal political stability, Al-Hariri would enrich various members of the political class, thus weakening public spending. And while Beirut was beginning to look lavish again, many wondered who could possibly benefit while Lebanon had come to have the largest public debt per capita in the world of any developing country. But it was the death of Hafez Al-Assad and the take-over by his son Bashar which finally led to the first exit from power by Al-Hariri. Keen to make a fresh political start in Syria, it only made sense that he should revise Lebanon's political ranks too. Although the reasons for his departure from power are unclear -- some interpretations claim it came as a result of a Syrian ouster, others claim he left to protest the entry into power of President Emile Lahoud. At any rate, for two years, Selim Al-Hoss led the government, and despite concerted attempts to discredit Al-Hariri, the long-time premier returned to power following municipal elections in 2000, with Lahoud still holding the presidency. His new tenure in office looked, on the outset, to be riddled with economic difficulties, given the sheer depth of Lebanon's crisis. But it turned out that the political file would be far more problematic for Al- Hariri, particularly as the United States began to exert pressure on the Syrian regime to withdraw from Lebanon. While the Syrians had effectively become reconciled with the business tycoon, they nevertheless sought greater support from him than they actually received. Things came to a head in September 2004, when he resigned over a dispute with the Syrian government over the extension of Lahoud's term as president for three more years. Though he never made a public statement about why he left office, it came across as a clear sign of protest. But even after his resignation, he remained a strong political actor, still playing the role of statesman. He maintained his international contacts, including his excellent personal friendship with French President Jacques Chirac. And he certainly looked set to play an ever-more defined role in an ever-more complex situation, with his latest resignation constituting a strategy for accumulating greater power, and by no means a real exit. His death cuts short the career of a man, regardless of how divided public opinion is on his politics and strategy, who in many ways held the key to some kind of balance, however fragile, between Lebanese sovereignty, the Syrian regime and US-Israeli pressure on the two Arab countries. How Lebanese sovereignty, from all sides, can be guaranteed now remains to be seen.
