Beirut
Lebanon’s prime minister-designate Mustapha Adib resigned Saturday amid a political impasse over his government’s formation. This deals a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron’s efforts to break a dangerous stalemate in the crisis-hit country.
The announcement by Mustapha Adib nearly a month after he was appointed to the job came following a meeting with President Michel Aoun, after which he told reporters he was stepping down.
The French leader has been pressing Lebanese politicians to form a Cabinet made up of independent specialists that can work on enacting urgent reforms to extract Lebanon from a devastating economic and financial crisis worsened by the Aug. 4 explosion at Beirut port.
Meanwhile, leading Sunni Muslim politician Saad al-Hariri said on Saturday anyone celebrating the failure of a French initiative to get Lebanon’s fractious leaders to form a new government will regret wasting the opportunity.
“We say to those who applaud the collapse of French President Emmanuel Macron’s initiative today, that you will bite your fingers in regret,” he said in a statement. Samir Geagea, the head of the Lebanese Forces Party, in statement said: “Any bailout can only be thought of with a truly independent government. As for naming ministers from the ruling group’s factions, it proved its failure and led the country to what it led to.” Former minister Major General Ashraf Rifi also said that, “Adib, who fought the mafia of arms and corruption for a month, went out with his head held high and did not participate in deceiving the Lebanese under the title of the government to test the experimenter.”— AP/Reuters
