Franjiyeh, Suleiman (1910-1992)

Lebanese Maronite Christian politician, president 1970-76. He emerged as a fierce rival of the conservative Maronite political clans of Chamoun and Gemayel and from 1960 sat in the Lebanese parliament, serving as a minister in 1960-61 and 1968-70. He was elected president, by the parliament, in August 1970, when he defeated Elias Sarkis by a single vote.

Although aware of the dangers posed to Lebanon's stability by the presence of Palestinian guerrillas, as president Franjiyeh took no action and in April 1975 civil war broke out. An opponent of cooperation with Israel, he became increasingly close to Syria during the final year of his presidential term, which ended in September 1976, and in early 1976 he invited Syrian armed intervention.

During the late 1970s the Franjiyeh clan's Marada militia became involved in clashes with the larger Phalangist militia of the Gemayels. The Phalangists had greater success and were responsible for the assassination in June 1978 of Suleiman Franjiyeh's son, Antoine, and daughter-in-law and grandaughter. This influenced his decision, during 1983-84, to join the Sunni Muslim militia of Rashid Karami and the Druze Muslim militia of Walid Jumblatt in an anti-Gemayel National Salvation Front. Franjiyeh backed the 1989 Taif Agreement for a Syrian-guided reformist regime. The agreement was similar to one he had devised in 1976, but which had been rejected by the Muslim-Palestinian camp.

Franjiyeh was born into a dominant Maronite Christian family in the Zagharta region of northern Mount Lebanon. His elder brother, Hamid Franjiyeh, was a candidate for the presidency in 1952 and a former foreign minister. Suleiman became organizer of the Franjiyehs' Marada militia and in 1957, after Hamid had suffered a stroke, entered politics as the Franjiyeh clan's leader.