What did Girault do in Beirut?

Jean Aziz - al-Akhbar newspaper

Once upon a time, a Saudi diplomat was reproaching a US official in Washington. After a lowdown of remarks and blames, the Saudi said to his American host: "We have a feeling that you do not agree with us over the decisions that concern our region. You even cast us away from the decisions that concern our country." The US official drew half a haughty smile, and then replied: "Do you know what the lifetime torment of Charles de Gaulle was?" Impressed, the Saudi continued to listen. "...that he died blaming us for we did not tell him that we were going to liberate France!"

Having the French Foreign Ministry's envoy, Jean-François Girault, touring in Beirut brings back to mind that incident. First of all, there is a sort of indicator on the deterioration of Lebanon as a state, building on the impression one would have if they thoroughly followed up on the visit.

The man, albeit his importance and relentless efforts to help us, remains a minor French government officer. He is in fact the Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa , at the General Directorate of Political Affairs and Security, at the General Secretariat of the French Foreign Ministry, where the minister is part of a government controlled by the president of the republic. Still, he is the top guest in Beirut, with appointments with all officials, touring half of the supposedly-state country...Only for comparison, the same man is also visiting Tehran within his Beirut mission. There, he only met with the Deputy Foreign Minister.

It might be an exaggeration to say that Lebanon is similar to Iran; but the question remains, even if just in the form: where does building the state start from, if it weren't from the institutional mindset and self-respect in order for others to respect us? Have we ever heard that a foreign envoy had been to Beirut where he only met with his counterpart? It is just a question amid this project of the nation and the state...

As to the content of the French official's visit, something else brings back to mind de Gaulle's torment. This is the second visit in Beirut for Girault, who has earlier strolled in Lebanon on January 10, to sense the pulse. That day, a Lebanese figure whom he met quoted him as asking about the possibilities of electing a new president of the republic. The sourced figure answered that it was still farfetched for the short run. But the French official had a different say. He said what meant, according to the figure: last year you told us that there was not possibility to form the government. So we went to Tehran and spoke to the Iranians. The government was then formed. Today you say that the election of a president is farfetched. Well, we will take the same try again.

Between the two Beirut visits, Girault's impression about Iran has changed. In the past two days, he did not stress on his governmental experience. All he said was that he had heard from Tehran and Riyadh that the issue was a Lebanese one. He even totally believed it. He bought it to the extent that he concluded sheer Lebanese electoral means, likely to thaw complications and find a president. His idea was to create an "electoral conclave," similar to the way the election of patriarchs and popes takes place. The man will even head to Rome in days to meet with Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rahi and some retired officials from the Vatican.

As a matter of fact, Girault's simple idea consists of convening the Lebanese Parliament, and shutting its doors until a president is found. One of those who have heard the proposal wished that Girault would keep in mind that his country once imposed mandate on Lebanon, and, at a 25-seat House, it failed to choose a president for Lebanon, when it backed Emile Eddeh while Beshara Khoury got elected. So how about now, especially in a region where countries are flaming?

Girault's proposal was not convincing. Even more, some of those he had met did not think he was serious about it. As if the presidential issue was only a pretense for the visit, while another matter was the real reason behind it. It is a reason that has to do with "Israel" and the Resistance, particularly after Quneitra attack and Hizbullah's swift retaliation in the Lebanese Shebaa farms. Here, the French functionary was clearer and less Lebanese. He tried to avoid the rhetoric of threat and intimidation, with embedded messages from beyond the South, on sovereign Lebanese issues that cannot be relinquished.

In the end of his Beirut tour, Girault almost told his Lebanese hosts that he blamed them for not sharing with Paris what they had in mind, in terms of the presidential issue and the matter of southern Lebanon. The hosts had best remind him of de Gaulle's torment, who had said: "I have been to the Orient which is complicated by simple ideas!"