Sweeping Changes in Amal Movement as New Group Emerges The turning point was the recent municipal election in Lebanon when the Shiite Movement Amal suffered a few serious setbacks in various parts of the country and its main rival, Hizbullah, made significant gains. This prompted Amal's leader, House Speaker Nabih Berri, to launch a sweeping reform and reshuffle drive to reinvigorate the movement and sustain its membership which reportedly has been dwindling as a result of increasing defections to Hizbullah.

The two parties are vying for leadership of the largest single community in Lebanon, namely the 1.2 million Shiites. The setbacks suffered by Amal, founded in the 1970's, sparked political speculation, which prompted Berri to allege there were attempts to "downsize" his movement and ultimately to "marginalize" it. Media reports explained this in simple words as: somebody trying to reduce Amal's size and influence in order to increase Hizbullah's for some reason or other.

Political analysts said that attempts by Berri and Hizbullah's secretary general Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to cooperate on the eve of the municipal elections at the end of May had reached a dead end. As a result, Amal's poorperformance in the elections in the Shiite-dominated Dahyeh district of southern Beirut, the Bekaa valley and southern Lebanon was unusually conspicuous. Some analysts said Hizbullah had for some time been attracting more and more Shiites to its ranks mainly through its generous social and economic services.

Amal, on the other hand, became too involved in government bureaucracy. Ever since Lebanon's civil war came to an end in the early 1990's, many of Amal's members joined the civil service in different government posts. Unofficial estimates put the number of Amal members who joined the government at around 15,000 people, inviting frequent direct and indirect complaints by the rival Shiite group Hizbullah.

Reshuffle at all Party Levels

A report in the liberal daily Al Balad on July 8 said Amal planned to take a series of reform steps leading to separating official government service from party and organizational activities. In the process, there will be a sweeping reshuffle of personnel at all party levels. "Party leader Nabih Berri wants to inject young and fresh blood into the movement," reporter Sobhi M. Yaghi said in an article published in Beirut's influential daily An Nahar on July 17.

Some of the new recruits were being drawn from the party's "Cadres School" which is directed by Hikmat Shahrour. The school is under the supervision of Yacoub Dhaher, a member of Amal's executive committee, whose job is to make sure the organization sticks to the ideology and policy of its founder Musa al-Sadr, who disappeared during a visit to Libya in 1978.

This week, press reports said that Amal's political bureau in the Bekaa was changed completely on instructions from Nabih Berri who was given extraordinary powers by the Central Committee to purge and reorganize the movement. A report published by the international Arabic daily Al Hayat on July 26 admitted "government bureaucracy had spoiled Amal's rank and file, thus prompting the need for a comprehensive reform and correction drive."

A number of leading figures in the movement have either quit or been expelled. Two of them were ministers, who represented the movement in Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's government. Mahmoud Abu Hamdan and Mohammed Abdel Hamid Baydoun also represented Berri in parliament. A report published by Al Balad on July 18 speculated that relations between Berri and Energy Minister Ayoub Hamayyed were so bad that the minister may be kicked out of Amal next. "Mistakes will not be tolerated from now on." This is the slogan for the new phase in Amal's history, according to An Nahar on July 17.

New Shiite Grouping Emerging

In another development, a new Shiite grouping appeared to be taking shape on the Lebanese scene this week. It comprised prominent intellectuals, professional and business figures who reportedly represent the elite of Lebanon's largest single community. Although the grouping's spokesmen deny it is aimed against either of the existing organizations Amal and Hizbullah, political sources see the new gathering as a definite rival.

First indications of the new organization appeared in the Beirut daily An Nahar on July 28. This was followed by an interview with the spokesman of the group, Mahmoud Ramadan, with the Saudi-owned daily Asharq Al Awsat on July 29. More than 250 people met last week at the mountain home of Mahmoud H. Ramadan to discuss ways of protecting and guiding citizens in safeguarding their political freedoms and avoid being manipulated by the power of money.

Significantly, the meeting was attended by the cultural attache of the Iranian embassy in Beirut, which gave rise to speculation that Iran was behind the new grouping. Reports recalled that the former Iranian attache in Damascus, Syria, was behind the formation of Hizbullah in the early 1980's. But spokesmen for the new grouping took pains this week to emphsize that Iran had nothing to do with the new organization.

A statement issued at the end of the meeting stressed the grouping was not aimed at Amal, or Hizbullah or any other Shiite organization. "Its main aim is to increase the immunity of the citizen against ignorance and slavery to money...Itis basically aimed at safeguarding personal and political liberties and not enslaving people with the power of money after humiliating and starving them."

It noted that the main reason behind convening the meeting was to "hammer out a unified stance on the worsening crisis that is endangering the social security and the mere living and existence of the average citizen." "There is a calamity looming which is threatening the entire Lebanese society without exception. This is a result of the ruling class's failure to assume its responsibilities. In fact, the ruling class has alienated the people, and its dishonest and corrupt performance has spread and encouraged graft and corruption, violating as such the legitimate and national rights of the citizen," the statement said.