Abdul Halim Khaddam
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Abdul Halim Khaddam (Arabic: عبد الحليم خدام), born in 1932 in the city of Baniyas, northwest Syria, is a Syrian politician and former Vice President of Syria.
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[edit] Political career
One of the few Sunni Muslims to make it to the top of the Alawite-dominated Syrian leadership, Khaddam was long known as a loyalist of Hafez al-Assad, and held a strong position within the regime. He served as foreign minister of Syria from 1970 to 1984 and as vice-president of Syria from 1984 to 2005. He was acting President of Syria from June 10 to July 17, 2000, between the death of Hafez and the election of his son, Bashar al-Assad, as the new President. At the time, there were rumours in Damascus that Khaddam would try to seize power.
As the new President strengthened his grip on the Ba'thist bureaucracy, Khaddam, and other members of the "old guard" of the regime, gradually lost influence. He announced his resignation on June 6, 2005, during the Ba'th Party Conference. That made him one of the last influential members of the "old guard" to leave the top tier of the regime, but the announcement came at a point when his political wings had already been clipped. After resigning, he relocated to Paris, France, ostensibly to write his memoirs[1].
[edit] Official end of ties with regime
In an interview with Al Arabiya network from Paris, France, on December 30, 2005 Khaddam denounced Assad's many "political blunders" in dealing with Lebanon. He especially attacked Rustum Ghazali, former head of Syrian operations in Lebanon, and defended his predecessor Ghazi Kanaan - Syria's Interior Minister, who is believed to have committed suicide in October 2005. Khaddam also said that former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, to whom Khaddam was considered close, "received many threats" from Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. The assassination of al-Hariri in February 2005 triggered the massive protests that eventually ended the 30-year long Syrian occupation of Lebanon.
The Syrian parliament responded the next day by voting to bring treason charges against him, and the Baath Party expelled him. Following the Khaddam interview, the UN Commission headed by Detlev Mehlis investigating the al-Hariri murder said it had asked the Syrian authorities to question Bashar al-Assad and Syria's Foreign Minister Faruq al-Sharaa. According to the Lebanese Daily Star newspaper, the Commission has interviewed Khaddam on January 5, 2006.
On January 14 Khaddam announced that he was forming a 'government in exile', predicting the end of al-Assad's regime by the end of 2006. His accusations against al-Assad and his inner circle regarding the al-Hariri murder also grew more explicit: Khaddam said he believed that al-Assad ordered al-Hariri's assassination.
Khaddam is the highest ranking Syrian official to have publicly cut his ties with the authoritarian regime, with the possible exception of Rifaat al-Assad, brother of former President Hafez al-Assad, who was exiled in 1983, following an attempted coup d'êtat.
[edit] Criticism
However, critics note that, when he was a member of the 'Old Guard', he used and abused his position and political connections to amass a considerable fortune, at the expense of the Syrian people. He now lives in a lavish Parisian mansion gifted to him by Hariri.[2]
[edit] External links
- Political biography at "Middle East Intelligence Bulletin", February 2000
- Ex-Syrian VP denounces government: report (Reuters) accessed on December 30, 2005
- Hariri threatened by Syria head BBC, December 30, 2005
- Former Syrian VP says Assad was involved in Hariri's death Haaretz, December 31, 2005
- Syria party kicks out 'traitor' BBC, January 1, 2006
- UN asks to meet Syrian president, BBC, January 2, 2006
- The Fox Speaks - Sami M. Moubayed in Al-Ahram Weekly
- Former Syrian VP set to form government in exile, Haaretz, January 15, 2006
| Preceded by Hafez al-Assad |
President of Syria (Acting President) 10 June – 17 July 2000 |
Succeeded by Bashar al-Assad |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Khaddam, Abdul Halim |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | عبد الحليم خدام (Arabic); Khaddam, Abdulhalim (alternate transliteration) |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Syrian leader |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1932 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Baniyas |
| DATE OF DEATH | living |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
