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Loopholes, gaps riddle Taif Agreement

The agreement that ended the Lebanese civil war still hasn't been implemented and remains as controversial as when it was penned.
Lebanese army soldiers patrol the Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tebbaneh neighbourhood after being deployed to tighten security, following clashes between Lebanese soldiers and Islamist gunmen, October 27, 2014. The Lebanese army took ground from Islamist gunmen in the northern city of Tripoli on Monday, security sources and a witness said, after weekend fighting in which 11 soldiers and eight civilians were killed. REUTERS/Stringer   (LEBANON - Tags: CIVIL UNREST MILITARY) - RTR4BQ8R
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Some 25 years have passed since the signing of the Taif Agreement that put an end to the Lebanese civil war. The agreement has had many column inches devoted to it. Some considered it a fundamental reform of the unbalanced system that was founded in 1920, since it allegedly concentrated state power in the hands of the Christians.

Others, namely the Christian groups who rallied around Gen. Michel Aoun in 1989, saw it as being dictated by international powers, which, as proved with time, paved the way for the Syrian tutelage of 1990-2005. Today, 25 years later, the gap between Christians and Muslims and between Muslim sects is deepening and the agreement has failed to bridge this gap. Worse, Shiite demands for a constituent assembly to be formed to make amendments to the agreement add to the inherited Christian frustration.

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