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  • BEIRUT: Meet The Government: The Profiles Of

    MEET THE GOVERNMENT: THE PROFILES OF LEBANON'S NEW MINISTERS

    NowLebanon
    July 11 2008
    Lebanon

    Late Friday afternoon, the make-up of Lebanon's 70th government was
    announced to the media from the presidential palace in Baabda. The
    cabinet includes both familiar faces and relative unknowns: NOW Lebanon
    provides some background on the 30 figures currently capturing the
    nation's attention.

    Fouad Siniora, Prime Minister (Sunni, Future affiliated)

    Fouad Siniora was born in 1953 and succeeded former Prime Minister
    Omar Karami in 2005. Considered a technocrat, he obtained his
    business administration degree from the American University of
    Beirut and subsequently worked at Citibank, AUB and the Central
    Bank before becoming minister of finance in two of Rafik Hariri's
    governments. Siniora held the ministerial post under successive Hariri
    governments (1992-1998, 2000-2004). A pro-business, pro-free-trade
    politician, Siniora was a close Hariri aide and introduced the VAT
    in 2002.

    Siniora headed the first administration following the Syrian withdrawal
    in 2005 and formed his government amid the political turmoil resulting
    from the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Siniora
    witnessed two conflicts during his first term: the Hezbollah-Israel
    July War of 2006 and the Nahr al-Bared battles in northern Lebanon
    in 2007. He is remembered by many for sobbing while appealing to the
    international community for help during the July War.

    Mohammad Chattah, Minister of Finance (Sunni, Future affiliated)

    Dr. Mohammad Chattah was born in Tripoli and has been senior advisor
    to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora since his election in 2005. He was
    educated in economics at the American University of Beirut and the
    University of Texas, where he received his doctorate. He previously
    worked at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C., and
    as vice president of the Bank of Lebanon. He was later appointed as
    ambassador to the United States from 1997 to 2000 and returned to the
    IMF in 2001. Following the assassination of former Prime Minister
    Rafik Hariri, he returned to Lebanon to work under Prime Minister
    Fouad Siniora.

    Tammam Salam, Minister of Culture (Sunni, Future affiliated)

    Former MP Tammam Salam, son of former PM Saeb Salam, was the head of
    the Makassed Foundation in the 1980s. A known moderate, he called
    for the boycott of the 1992 legislative elections and ran as an
    independent in 1996, winning a seat as one of Beirut's Sunni MPs
    on Rafik Hariri's list. After winning again with Hariri in 1998,
    he lost by a landslide in 2000. He has not aligned himself with any
    faction since the Cedar Revolution.

    Bahia Hariri, Minister of Education (Sunni, Future Movement)

    Bahia Hariri was born in Saida in 1952 and is the sister of
    assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. She has been an
    MP since 1992, elected to the same seat in the 1992, 1996, 2000, and
    2005 elections. Hariri worked as a teacher until the late seventies,
    before becoming head of the Hariri Foundation. She also heads the
    Parliamentary Commission for Education and Culture, is a good will
    UNESCO ambassador, a member of the Lebanese American University's
    board of trustees, and head of the Islamic Organization for Higher
    Education. She has worked on projects aimed at supporting the
    development of the role and status of Arab women and previously
    campaigned to pass several laws to protect women. She is the
    vice-president of the commission for women at the inter-parliamentary
    Arab Union and was one of 1,000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace
    Prize in 2005.

    Khaled Qabbani, Minister of State (Sunni, Future Movement)

    Khaled Qabbani, was the minister of education and higher studies in
    Prime Minster Fouad Siniora's first cabinet from July 2005 to July
    2008, and justice minster in the cabinet of former Prime Minister
    Najib Mikati from April 2005 to July 2005.

    Mohammad Safadi, Minister of Economy and Trade (Sunni, Tripoli bloc)

    Mohammad Safadi was born in Tripoli in 1944 and spent most of his
    career as a businessman. He started his first business in Lebanon
    in 1969 and then turned his attention abroad, investing in Saudi
    Arabia and Europe. In the 1990s, he established Safadi Group Holding
    SAL in Lebanon. The group deals primarily in property development,
    banking, aviation, information technology tourism and industry. In
    the year 2000, he successfully ran for one of the Sunni parliamentary
    seats for Tripoli. He won re-election in 2005 and is a member of the
    three-minister Tripoli bloc. Safadi served as minster of public works
    and transport in Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's first cabinet.

    Ibrahim Shamseddine, Minister of Information (Shia, Independent)

    Ibrahim Shamseddine was born in 1959 and is a Shia leader and the son
    of Imam Mohammed Mehdi Shamseddine, the former president of the Higher
    Shia Counsel. He is also the head of Imam Shamseddine Institute for
    Dialogue and a member of the Lebanese Gathering for Dialogue. He is
    the president of the Cultural Charity Organization, an NGO that works
    on education and development, originally founded by his father. From
    1991 to 1996, he was the vice president of the Council for Development
    and Reconstruction (CDR). He is married with four children and has a
    Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and a BA in Political Science
    and Public Administration from the American University of Beirut.

    Ghazi Aridi, Minister of Transport and Public Works (Druze, PSP)

    Ghazi Aridi was born in 1954 in the town of Baisour and is a prominent
    figure in the Progressive Socialist Party. Aridi first entered national
    politics in 2000 when he won the Druze seat in Beirut's third electoral
    district. During his first term as a parliamentarian, he served as
    minister of information in then-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's fourth
    cabinet from October 2000 until April 2003, and then became the
    minister of culture in Hariri's fifth cabinet from April 2003 until
    October 2004. He was re-elected during parliamentary elections in
    2005 and was appointed as minister of information in Fouad Siniora's
    first cabinet. Aridi has been a political advisor to PSP President
    Walid Jumblatt since 1991, and held several high-level positions
    in the PSP during the 1980s, including assistant secretary general,
    central information officer and member of the party's command council.

    Wael Abou Faour, Minister of State (Druze, PSP)

    Wael Abou Faour was born in 1972. He was elected MP in 2005 as
    part of the Democratic Gathering bloc representing the Western
    Bekaa (Rashaya). He is also a senior member of the Progressive
    Socialist Party. Abu Faour was a member of the following parliamentary
    committees: agriculture and tourism, youth and sports and information
    technology. He graduated from the American University of Beirut with
    a degree in Public administration.

    Nassib Lahoud, Minister of State (Maronite, Qornet Chahwan)

    Nassib Lahoud was born in 1944 to former deputy and minister Selim
    Lahoud. His cousin is former pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud. As an
    engineer, he is the founder and partner of the regional construction
    company Lahoud Engineering Co. Ltd. He used to be Lebanon's ambassador
    to the US after working to pass the Taif Accord and has been an MP
    representing the North Metn since 1991. In 2001 he joined the Qornet
    Shehwan Gathering and co-founded the Democratic Renewal Movement. He
    is considered a moderate when it comes to Lebanese-Syrian relations
    but is part of the March 14 alliance.

    Elie Marouni, Minister of Tourism (Marointe, Kataeb)

    Elie Marouni is the Kataeb party president for the Zahle district. He
    was part of the Future Movement's list for the Bekaa Zahle constituency
    in 2005 but lost. Marouni's brother, Nasri, was killed along with
    Kataeb party member Selim Assi in April when Joseph Zouki, an Elie
    Skaff loyalist, opened fire on a celebration for the opening of a
    party office in Zahle.

    Tony Karam, Minister of the Environment (Maronite, LF)

    Tony Karam was born in Hadath in 1956. He received his elementary
    education at the Sacred Hearts School and his elementary and secondary
    education at the St. Joseph Institute, Aintoura. He graduated from the
    University of St. Joseph, Faculty of Medicine in 1985. He has been a
    member of the Lebanese Forces since its founding, and he was active in
    the medical field. He established a number of medical institutions. He
    is currently a member of the LF executive committee. He is married to
    Danielle Mattar and has two children: Mark Henry (18) and Tania (15).

    Ibrahim Najjar, Minister of Justice (Orthodox, LF)

    Ibrahim Najjar is from the North Lebanon village of Amioun in the Koura
    district, is close to the Lebanese Forces and was formerly a Kataeb
    party official. He was head of the Kataeb's Koura district bureau
    from 1973 to 1978. Najjar is also a law professor at Université
    Saint Joseph.

    Tarek Mitri, Minister of Information (Orthodox, Independent)

    Tarek Mitri was born in 1950 and has played a significant role in
    advocating freedom of expression in Lebanon. Most recently, Mitri
    successfully pushed for lifting the ban on the film adaptation of
    Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. Mitri was environment and administrative
    development minister in 2005 and is currently culture minister. He
    has a doctorate from the University of Paris and has been a professor
    in several international institutions. He has extensive experience
    promoting Christian-Muslim relations and has published on the subject.

    Raymond Audi, Minister of the Displaced (Catholic, Independent)

    Raymond Audi is the chairman of the board and general manager of Bank
    Audi SAL - Audi Saradar Group, Lebanon. Born in Saida in 1932, Audi
    has been director of the bank since its inception in 1962 and has been
    its chairperson since 1998. He is also chairman of the bank's Corporate
    Governance and Remuneration Committee. Audi founded Bank Audi with his
    brothers, father and a Kuwaiti businessman, an institution that is now
    widely recognized both locally and regionally. He is also president of
    the Association of Banks and has received numerous awards, among them,
    the Euromoney Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Development
    of Financial Services in the Middle East, and an honorary doctorate
    from the Lebanese American University.

    Jean Ogassapian, Minister of State (Armenian, Tashnaq)

    Jean Ogassapian was born in 1954, is a Beirut MP and is the outgoing
    minister of state for administrative development. He studied in
    Lebanon, Jordan, France, Germany and the US. He is a ranking colonel in
    the Lebanese Armed Forces and was the head of the president's security
    team from 1990 to 1999. He was the assistant to the commander of the
    presidential guard from 1998 until 2000. He is a Future Bloc member and
    was previously a minister of state in PM Fouad Siniora's 2005 cabinet.

    Fawzi Salloukh, Minister of Foreign Affairs (Shia, Amal)

    Fawzi Salloukh was born in 1931 in Qumatiyya, Aley. Salloukh was
    appointed minister of foreign affairs and emigrants in Prime Minister
    Fouad Siniora's cabinet in July 2005 and resigned in November 2006
    along with five other opposition figures. He graduated from the
    American University of Beirut in 1954 with a degree in political
    science. He is a career diplomat and served as ambassador to Sierra
    Leone (1964-1971), Nigeria (1978-1985), Algeria (1985-1987), Austria
    (1990-1994) and Belgium (1994-1995). Before taking up his ministerial
    position, Salloukh was the secretary general of the Islamic University
    from 1998 to 2005. He is married to Hind Basma and has three children.

    Ghazi Zeaiter, Ministery of Industry (Shia, Amal)

    Ghazi Zeaiter was born in 1949. He was elected as an MP in 2005,
    representing Baalbek-Hermel and served on the administration and
    justice and finance and budget committees. Originally a lawyer, he
    is a member of the Nahib Berri's Liberation and Development Bloc. He
    was previously elected as an MP in 1996. In 1998, he was the minister
    of defense.

    Mohammad Jawad Khalifeh, Minister of Health (Shia, Amal)

    Mohammad Jawad Khalifeh is a member of the Amal Movement and no
    stranger to his current ministry. He held the post in Prime Minister
    Fouad Siniora's first cabinet from July 2005 until he resigned with
    five other ministers in November 2006, and before that he served in
    this role in former PM Najib Mikati's cabinet from April 2005 until
    July 2005, and in former PM Omar Karami's cabinet from October 2004 to
    April 2005. Khalifeh is a doctor and has served as head of the general
    surgery department at the American University of Beirut Medical Center
    and secretary of the Lebanese Association for Organ Donors.

    Mohammad Fneish, Minister of Labor (Shia, Hezbollah)

    Mohammad Fneish was born in the South Lebanon town of Maaroub in
    1953. He is a member of Hezbollah and entered national politics in
    1992 when elected as a member of parliament representing Bint Jbeil. A
    member of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, Fneish was re-elected
    for that seat in 1996 and 2000. In 2005 he was elected to represent
    Tyre and appointed minister of energy and water. Fneish was one of the
    six ministers who resigned from the cabinet in November 2006. Before
    entering politics, he worked as a teacher. Fneish is married with
    seven children.

    Ali Qanso, Minister of State (Shia, SSNP)

    Ali Qanso was born in 1948 and spent the early years of his career
    as a teacher. Qanso is a strong supporter of Syria and has served
    as the president of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP). He
    served as minister of labor in former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's
    fourth cabinet from October 2000 to April 2003. Hezbollah nominated
    Qanso for the current cabinet, and it sparked a controversy when,
    on Wednesday, July 9, then-Prime Minster designate Fouad Siniora
    "vetoed" his name. On Friday, July 11, Saad Hariri announced that
    he told Siniora to withdraw his objection and within two hours,
    the cabinet was announced.

    Talal Arslan, Minister of Youth and Sports (Druze, Lebanese Democratic
    Party)

    Talal Arslan was born in the coastal town of Choueifat in 1963. Arslan
    hails from the Yazbak clan, which has long jockeyed for power in
    Lebanon with the other prominent Druze clan, the Jumblatts. He is
    married with two children and studied political science and economy
    in the U.S. before receiving a master's degree from AUB. Arslan heads
    the Lebanese Democratic Party which he founded in 2001 and has been
    involved in politics since 1988. In 1992, 1996 and 2000 he was elected
    to represent the Baabda-Aley district in Parliament but lost to rival
    Walid Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party in 2005. Arslan has
    also served several times as a cabinet minister in the governments
    of former prime ministers Omar Karami and Rafik al-Hariri. He was
    minister of tourism between 1990 and 1992, minister of emigrants
    from 1996 to 1998, minister of state from 2000 to 2004 and minister
    of the displaced from 2004 to 2005. Arslan is staunchly pro-Syrian.

    Mario Aoun, Minister of Social Affairs (Maronite, FPM)

    Mario Aoun was born in Damour in 1951 and is a political advisor
    with the Free Patriotic Movement. He graduated from the University
    of Bordeaux with a medical degree in endocrinology and metabolic
    illnesses in 1982. Aoun worked as both chief of service at the Lebanese
    Hospital in Jeitawi and on the staff of St. Charles Hospital in 2004,
    and was the Free Patriotic Movement's coordinator in Damour. He was
    elected the first FPM head of the Lebanese Order of Physicians that
    same year. The FPM lost control of the Order of Physicians in 2007,
    when March 14's list won. Aoun also ran for the Maronite seat in the
    Chouf district in 2005, losing to Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan, who
    ran on Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt's list. Aoun
    went to Doha with the FPM contingent in mid May of 2008.

    Gebran Bassil, Minister of Telecommunications (Maronite, FPM)

    Gebran Bassil is the political relations officer of Michel Aoun's Free
    Patriotic Movement and a close Aoun aide as well as his son-in-law. In
    2005 he unsuccessfully ran for the Maronite parliamentary seat in
    Batroun. He is a long-time FPM activist and was particularly active
    during the 1990s while Aoun was in exile in Paris. Bassil is a likely
    candidate for becoming the deputy president of the FPM, the party's
    second-highest position, which is allegedly creating tension within
    the party. Bassil was instrumental in negotiating the memorandum of
    understanding the FPM signed with Hezbollah in February 2006.

    Issam Abu Jamra, Deputy Prime Minister (Orthodox, FPM)

    Former Major General Issam Abou Jamra was born in the South Lebanon
    town of Al-Kfeir in 1937 and has been an important official in the Free
    Patriotic Movement since the movement was founded. Abou Jamra joined
    the Lebanese army in 1956. He graduated from the military academy
    in 1959 as an artillery officer, served as secretary of the army,
    commander in chief, commander of the second artillery battalion,
    commander of the second brigade, commander of the seventh brigade,
    inspector general of the defense ministry, and attended military
    courses in France and the US. Abou Jamra also received a law degree in
    1984. He served in General Michel Aoun's military cabinet in 1988-89
    as deputy premier and head of six ministries, after which he was exiled
    to France with Aoun in 1990. He returned with him as well in 2005.

    Elie Skaff, Minister of Agriculture (Catholic, Popular Bloc)

    Elias Skaff is from the Bekaa and a member of the Aoun-aligned Popular
    Bloc. He was industry minister in Rafik Hariri's fifth cabinet from
    2003 through October 2004 and was minister of agriculture in Omar
    Karami's cabinet from 2004 to 2005. He has represented Zahle as an MP
    since 1992 and was the deputy during the April 2008 scandal when two
    of his bloc's supporters shot up a Kataeb party headquarters ceremony,
    killing two before escaping. He denied giving the perpetrators cover.

    Alain Tabourian, Minister of Energy (Armenian, Tashnaq)

    Alain Tabourian was born in Beirut in 1964. Tabourian is the son of
    former MP Andre Tabourian and is a graduate of Harvard University. He
    previously served as minister in governments led by Omar Karami and
    Najib Mikati.

    Ziad Baroud, Minister of Interior (Maronite, President's quota)

    Ziad Baroud is a lawyer and human rights activist. He is a lecturer
    at St. Joseph University, where he received his masters in law in
    1992. Baroud's areas of specialty are public and administrative,
    civil, educational, and syndicate law. He also works as a consultant
    with the United Nations Development Program, offering advice on local
    governance and decentralization, and is the retainer legal counselor
    for the World Bank's office in Beirut. Baroud served as secretary
    general of the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections and was
    a member of the National Council for a New Electoral Law, which wrote
    a draft law in 2006. He disagreed with the law's mandate to divide
    the mohafaza of Mount Lebanon into two constituencies and lodged a
    formal objection, which was submitted to parliament along with the law.

    Elias al-Murr, Minister of Defense (Orthodox, President's quota)

    Elias al-Murr was born in the Metn town of Bteghrine in 1962, son of
    political heavyweight Michel al-Murr. He studied law in Switzerland
    and worked as a lawyer in Beirut, Paris and Geneva. Murr also serves
    as chairman for over 20 corporations in Lebanon and abroad. He married
    Carine Lahoud, daughter of former President Emile Lahoud. The two
    have three children and are now divorced. Murr entered government in
    2000 as interior minister after Rafik al-Hariri and his allies won
    big in parliamentary elections and Hariri demanded Murr's father
    resign the post. Murr maintained that position until 2005 when he
    became both defense minister and deputy prime minister. Murr and his
    father were long-time supporters of Syria and closely tied to former
    President Lahoud. He survived an assassination attempt on July 11,
    2005, in the northern town of Naccache. Murr's father has been moving
    closer to the March 14 coalition in recent months, and he formally
    left Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc in April 2008.

    Youssef Taqla, Minister of State (Catholic, President's quota)

    A lawyer by profession, Taqla, who hails from Zouk Mikael, is
    the grandson of Selim Taqla, a prominent figure in the Lebanese
    independence movement, and son of banker and eight-time minister of
    foreign affairs Philippe Taqla.

    --Boundary_(ID_IH7iDl8GwHl+S64X1q5PtQ)--
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