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Nabih Berri

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Nabih Berri
نبيه بري
Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon
In office
20 October 1992 – present
PresidentElias Hrawi
Émile Lahoud
Michel Sleiman
Preceded byHussein el-Husseini
Personal details
Born (1938-01-28) 28 January 1938 (age 86)
Bo, Sierra Leone
NationalityLebanese
Political partyAmal Movement
SpouseRanda Berri
Websitewww.nabihberry.com

Nabih Berri (Arabic: نبيه بري; born 28 January 1938) is the Speaker of the Parliament of Lebanon. He heads the Amal Movement.[1][2][3]

Early life and education

He was born in Bo, Sierra Leone to Lebanese parents on 28 January 1938.[4]

Berri went to school in Tebnine and Ain Ebel in southern Lebanon, then continued his education in Bint Jbeil and Jaafariya supplementary schools in southern Lebanon and later studied at the Makassed and the Ecole de la Sagesse in Beirut. He graduated with a Law degree from the Lebanese University in 1963, where he had served as the student body president, and became a lawyer at the Court of Appeals.[3][5]

Early career

During 1963, Berri was elected as president of the National Union of Lebanese Students,[6] and participated to student and political conferences. During his early career he became a lawyer at the Court of Appeals. In the early 1970s, Berri worked in Beirut as a lawyer for several companies.

In 1980, Berri was elected leader of the Amal Movement,[7] This caused increasing cooperation with the Israelis in the south, which allowed for several officials defect from Amal and found Islamic Amal, which later transformed into Hezbollah.

He was the key player of the sectarian Intifada of 6 February 1984 against the Lebanese government, where Shia officers and soldiers were called to defect from the Lebanese Army.[8]

Berri also joined the National Unity government as minister of state for South Lebanon and reconstruction under Prime Minister Rashid Karami in May 1984.[9] He also served as the minister of housing and co-operatives.[3]

According to former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky, in his book By Way of Deception, the Mossad "was deeply involved with several other warring Lebanese families, paying for information, passing it between groups, even paying the gangs and some Palestinians in the refugee camps for intelligence and services. Besides Gemayel, both the Jumblatt and Berri families were on the Mossad payroll[10].

Later political career

Berri served as a cabinet minister from 1984 till 1992:[11]

  • 30 April 1984 to 22 September 1988: Minister of Justice in the government of Rashid Karami.[12]
  • 25 November 1989 to 24 December 1990: Minister of Hydraulic& Electric Resources in the government of Selim Hoss.
  • 25 November 1989 to 24 December 1990: Minister of Housing& Cooperatives in the government of Selim Hoss.
  • 16 May 1992 to 31 October 1992: Minister of state in the government of Rachid Solh.[12]

In May 2014, Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that "power-sharing between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon would not change under any circumstance saying he was speaking on behalf of Shiites, Sunnis and Druze".[13][14]

He was elected Speaker of the parliament of Lebanon for the first time on 20 October 1992 (105 votes out of 124 votes).[15] He was re-elected for a second time on 22 October 1996 (122 votes out of 126 votes). He was elected to the same post three more times on 17 October 2000 unanimously (124 votes out of 126 votes), on 28 June 2005 (90 votes out of 126 votes)[16] and on 25 June 2009 (90 votes out of 127 votes)[11]

Since 1993, he chairs the Union of Parliamentarians of Lebanese Descent including 156 members of parliament and senators from 19 countries.[3][17]

Berri is involved in corruption allegations regarding a 1996 coastal motorway in southern Lebanon. The contract for the motorway was won by a firm run by Berri's wife, Randa Assi, and was said to be overpriced by over three hundred million US dollars.[18][19]

In 2004, Berri was mentioned in several of the diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks. One cable said that Amal is "near universally derided as corrupt to the core", and that Berri was described by a relative of Musa al-Sadr as having provided social services in the south only through "wheeling, dealing, and stealing". Also according to the cables, Berri receives USD 400,000 a month from Iran, using a fourth of the sum to shore up his support and pocketing the rest.[20][21]

According to one source, Berri was considered by Rafik Hariri to be "irredeemably corrupt and unreliable", as well as an opportunist,[22] and is thought to maintain his support base through access to state funds.

According to leaked diplomatic cables, during the 2006 Lebanon war, Berri, publicly an ally of Hezbollah, described Israel's attacks on Hezbollah to US Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman as being "like honey", and hoped that Israel would complete its mission against Hezbollah quickly. He suggested that the IDF "markedly improve its targeting intelligence to make air strikes more effective. Either that, or they would have to wipe Hizballah out of the south with a ground offensive." He also suggested that "if Israel succeeds in weakening Hizballah militarily, then he will be more willing to weaken them politically".[23][24][25][26].

Berri's sister-in-law and close business associate Samira Assi, is said to have made a fortune by getting a contract from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to print one million copies of Gaddafi's "Green Book".[27] Assi's deals are seen as highly controversial, since the founder of the Amal Movement, Musa al-Sadr, is known to have been disappeared on the orders of Gaddafi himself.

Personal life

Nabih Berri is married to Randa Assi Berri.[28]

References

  1. ^ Fandy, Mamoun (2007). (Un)civil war of words: media and politics in the Arab world. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-275-99393-1. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  2. ^ Nir, Omri (15 February 2011). Nabih Berri and Lebanese Politics. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-230-10535-5. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d "Nabih Berry Biography" (PDF). Cite error: The named reference "Nabih1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Nabih Berri". Wars of Lebanon. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
  5. ^ official website of the Lebanese parliament. Country-data.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2014.
  6. ^ Nabih Mustafa Berri biography. Whichcame1st.com. Retrieved on 5 August 2014.
  7. ^ Amal. Countrystudies.us. Retrieved on 5 August 2014.
  8. ^ Daily star newspaper. Dailystar.com.lb. Retrieved on 5 August 2014.
  9. ^ Owen, Roger (October 1984). "The Lebanese Crisis: Fragmentation or Reconciliation?". Third World Quarterly. 6 (4): 934–949. doi:10.1080/01436598408419807. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  10. ^ Ostrovsky, Victor (1990). By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer, p. 316
  11. ^ a b "Lebanese Parliament official website" (PDF). Cite error: The named reference "Nabih" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  12. ^ a b "Minister of justice". FamousWhy.
  13. ^ Kechichian, Joseph A. (6 May 2014). "No change in power-sharing formula in Lebanon".
  14. ^ Leaders praise Sleiman at final Dialogue session. Dailystar.com.lb. 6 May 2014.
  15. ^ "Nabih Berri Facts". YourDictionary, Under Syria's Influence part.
  16. ^ Mallat, Chibli. Lebanon's Cedar Revolution An essay on non-violence and justice (PDF). Mallat. p. 122.
  17. ^ the daily star. the daily star (21 April 1998). Retrieved on 5 August 2014.
  18. ^ Johnson, Michael (2001). All Honorable Men: The Social Origins Of War In Lebanon, p.236
  19. ^ Schwerna, Tobias (2010). Lebanon: A Model of Consociational Conflict, p.128
  20. ^ The "independent Shia" of Lebanon: What Wikileaks tells us about American efforts to find an alternative to Hizballah
  21. ^ Amal-Hizballah Marriage Weakening Amal But May Open A Way For Other Shia
  22. ^ Blanford, Nicholas (2006). Killing Mr. Lebanon: The Assasination of Rafik Hariri and Its Impact on the Middle East, p. 118
  23. ^ Berri says cease-fire necessary eventually, but for now, Israeli strikes are like honey
  24. ^ Berri pleased with 2006 raids - NOW Media
  25. ^ Syria and Hezbollah allies exposed in recent Wikileaks dipatch - Aspen Institute
  26. ^ Wikileaks: Lebanon speaker pleased with 2006 Israel raids on Hezbollah, describes Assad as 'stupid'
  27. ^ Nabih Berri profile - Middle East Intelligence Bulletin
  28. ^ Gambill, Gary C.; Ziad K. Abdelnour (July 2001). "Dossier: Rafiq Hariri". Middle East Intelligence Bulletin. 3 (7). Retrieved 17 March 2013.

Template:Persondata DEFAULTSORT:Berri, Nabih Category:1938 births Category:Living people Category:Lebanese University alumni Category:Lebanese Shia Muslims Category:Lebanese expatriates in the United States Category:Speakers of the Parliament of Lebanon Category:People from South Lebanon Category:Amal Movement politicians

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