Abd al-Halim Haddam

Abd al-Halim Haddam

Abd al-Halim Haddam ( Arabic عبد الحليم خدام, DMG ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm Ḫaddām , also Abdul Halim Khaddam ; * September 15, 1932 in Baniyas ; † March 31, 2020 in Paris ) was a Syrian politician . For many years he was Vice President (1984–2000; 2000–2005) and interim President (June 10– July 17, 2000) of Syria. Since his resignation he lived in exile in Paris.

Life

Abd al-Halim Haddam was born in Baniyas on September 15, 1932. He was one of the few Sunni Muslims at the top of the Alawite- dominated Syrian government. Haddam has long been known to be loyal to Hafiz al-Assad . He was Foreign Minister from 1970 to 1984 and Vice President from 1984 to 2000 alongside Rifaat al-Assad and Zuhair Maschariqa . He was President of Syria from June 10 to July 17, 2000, between Hafiz's death and the election of his son Bashar al-Assad . At the time there were rumors that Haddam would try to take power in Damascus.

Chaddam was considered one of the main architects of the political system in Lebanon after the Lebanese civil war and its end in the Taif Agreement . By gerrymandering the constituencies, Chaddam's system balanced the political balance of power and increased the influence of pro-Syrian politicians. When Bashar al-Assad assumed the office of president, Chaddam became vice-president again. He and other members of the "old guard" gradually lost their old influence. In this context, he announced his resignation on June 6, 2005 at the Ba'ath Party Congress . After retiring, he moved to Paris to supposedly write his memoirs . After an open break with the Syrian government, he lived there in exile . In the same year he founded the opposition National Redemption Front in Belgium .

Chaddam was married to Najat Marqabi, who comes from a prominent family from Tartus . His great-granddaughter is married to the son of Rafik Hariri .

literature

• Abdel Halim Khaddam , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 21/2006 of May 27, 2006, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Web links

Commons : Abd al-Halim Chaddam  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam passes away in France
2. ↑ Usamah Felix Darrah: History of Syria in the 20th Century and under Bashar Al-Assad. Marburg 2014, p. 146 f.
3. ^ Syria-The Power Elite . In: Mongabay . Retrieved February 24, 2013. 
4. ↑ Shmuel Bar: Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview . In: IPS . 2006. Retrieved March 12, 2013.