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Reuters
Acting Prime Minister Mustafa Adeeb Warns of Delaying Government Formation
Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Adib called on all political parties to cooperate as he seeks to form a new government following the outbreak of the disaster in the capital Beirut last month.
Adeeb, in his continuous contacts with the political parties, reiterated the need to form a government of experts, so that the task of getting the country out of the complex crises in which it is trapped begins.
However, the process was delayed due to the insistence of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement to award various ministerial portfolios, including finances, to the Shiite candidates.
Other forces, including the Future Movement led by Saad Hariri, oppose these demands.
Adib’s tenure came in late August, after Hassan Diab’s government resigned earlier that month, amid anger over a large explosion that struck the port of Beirut and killed at least 200 people.
The explosion occurred as a result of the unsafe storage of more than 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate in the port, prompting allegations of corruption and mismanagement by the Lebanese.
The explosion exacerbated a suffocating financial crisis, which has seen a devaluation of up to 80 percent since October 2019, with many deposits being held in a paralyzed banking system and rising rates of poverty and unemployment.
The financial crisis sparked massive protests against the government and the political elite.
Mustafa Adeeb said on Monday that: “Lebanon cannot afford to waste time amid the unprecedented financial, monetary, economic, social and health crises it is going through.”
He added: “The pain of the Lebanese that resonates throughout the country and through the voyages of death at sea, requires the cooperation of all parties to facilitate the formation of an important government with a specific program. Of the crises, and to restore the confidence of the citizen in his country and its institutions ”.
He stressed that: “Any additional delay aggravates and deepens the crisis, pushes people towards more poverty and the State towards more impotence, and I do not believe that anyone can hold their conscience responsible for causing more pain to these people who have suffered so much and still suffering.
Adeeb seeks to form a government of experts to stop the economic collapse that has threatened Lebanon for some time, highlighting the importance of the initiative launched by French President Emmanuel Macron, which he described as “paving the way for Lebanon to rescue it from its rapid deterioration. ”
The French initiative, presented by Macron after the August explosion, provides for the establishment of a government of experts in exchange for financial support to help the country emerge from its suffocating crisis.
The insistence of Hezbollah and the Amal movement on the Ministry of Finance clashes with sanctions imposed by the United States on two former ministers linked to Hezbollah, whom Washington accuses of corruption, and increases French pressure on Lebanon regarding the formation of the new government.
