The besieged Lebanese government has fallen, one week after a cataclysmic explosion destroyed the port of Beirut, with the country’s prime minister, Hassan Diab, claiming the disaster was the result of endemic corruption.
Diab announced the resignation of the government after more than a third of the ministers resigned, and Diab himself was forced to resign.
Diab, who has been prime minister for nine months, had to inform President Michel Aoun, who was expected to accept his resignation.
“I said that corruption is rooted in every part of the state,” he said. “But I found out that corruption is bigger than the state.
“A political class uses all its dirty tricks to prevent real change. The more we tried to reach her, the bigger the walls became.
“This disaster is the result of chronic corruption,” Diab said, repeating, “The corruption network is bigger than the state.”
He added that he ‘demands of people for real change. Today we will take a step back to stand with the people. ”
However, it is unlikely that the move will immediately lead to a clean sweep of the government, with current ministers – including those who have resigned – set to take on a caring role and form the backbone of a new administration.
Instead, a drive for more than a third of sitting parliamentarians to stop parliament is forcing new parliamentary elections and could lead to an injection of new members less tainted by corruption and nepotism.
Lebanon’s leadership has faltered over the past week since an enormous explosion damaged the port of Beirut and damaged nearby areas. The death toll from the blasts has risen to 200, according to the Beirut governor. Up to 6,000 more people were injured.
Decades of incompetence and grafting underwent a decision to keep and store a supply of close to 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate at the port with flammable substances.
The blast has thrown a spotlight on weak governance in the Mediterranean state, which is already recovering from an economic imposition that threatens the livelihoods of millions of people.
At least five bodies have been recovered from near the 45-foot crater in the docks where the fireball erupted. Local investigators were able to complete a preliminary investigation into the cause of the disaster on Tuesday.
The fall of the government did not quell the anger on the streets of central Beirut, where protesters clashed again with soldiers and parliamentary guards defending the Lebanese legislature. A welfare administration consisting of many of the same ministers would not do much to satisfy those who are reconsidering a political system of the country, including the basis on which governments are formed.
A central demand of Protestants has been to clean up all contained layers of government that spilled much of the country’s wealth and provided next to nothing in public services. Another is for an international team to take over the investigation, and appoint political leaders who would have allowed such dangerous supplies to remain meters from the most populous areas of Beirut for more than six years.
Since the end of the Civil War in 1990, patronage networks set up by warlords have become central instruments of statecraft, with all ministries transformed into five. Senior politicians had collaborated with oligarchs, taken huge cuts in development contracts and provided essential services, such as fuel imports, and waste management.
The result had been a small number of very wealthy officials and businessmen who patrolled the country from outside. The nepotism had infected all layers of the government, making dealing with corruption a fact of life for many Lebanese.
“It can not go on,” Jad Daher said as he walked to a rally in downtown Beirut. “It is not just corruption but the system that has brought us to this point. If this government resigns but a new government takes responsibility for the same people, then what have we achieved? This is all or nothing. ”
“They will not do the same thing again,” Rita Afif said. ‘They know they can not, but they will still try. They are stopped this time. ”
Security forces again fired tear gas at protesters approaching Parliament Square, leaving large numbers of soldiers and police inside high iron gates and barricades.
Some political leaders, meanwhile, have called for mass dismissals of MPs, forcing new parliamentary elections. At least 43 members would have to vacate their seats to make that happen. A former member, former warlord Samir Geagea, said in a tweet: “In addition to the ongoing relief effort in Beirut, we are currently working to save the republic by freeing it from this parliament.”
At least six MPs have vacated their seats, and others were expected to follow. The confusion over Diab’s replacement is expected to be led by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who stood down last November in the wake of street protests following an economic collapse that had electrified the country and paved the way for legislators promising change. A second candidate is highly regarded former senior diplomat, Nawaf Salam.
Ever since his inauguration, however, Diab had suffered severe weather from governing a country crippled by a rapid deepening of economic imposition, amplified by the coronavirus. The government he led had failed to agree with the IMF on a financial bailout condition of reforms that some Lebanese leaders refused to make.
The IMF has described the talks as “beautiful”.
