Lebanon's prime minister-designate Saad Hariri announced Thursday (July 15th) that he was stepping down from forming a government nearly nine months after being appointed and as the country faces the worst socio-economic crisis in its history.
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Saad Hariri was appointed prime minister in October 2020 but failed to form a team supposed to launch essential reforms to unlock crucial international aid in particular.
He told reporters on Thursday that he had met President Michel Aoun who had called for amendments to the government list, changes to which he was opposed. “
It is clear that the position (of Michel Aoun) has not changed on the subject and that we will not be able to agree
, he said.
This is why I apologized for not being able to form the government, may God help the country
”.
Michel Aoun and Hariri have repeatedly displayed their disagreements in recent months, especially during a public pass of arms last March after yet another meeting which had turned to bitter accusations.
Saad Hariri criticized the president for hampering the formation of the government by insisting on a “
blocking minority
” within the next ministerial team and by seeking to impose a “
confessional and partisan
” distribution of portfolios.
Almost a year later, the parties remain absorbed in their usual haggling in a multi-confessional country put in cuts regulated by the barons of the various communities.
First anniversary of the explosion
Three-time prime minister, Saad Hariri, was appointed prime minister on October 22, 2020, a year after his fall under pressure from the streets.
The current government, in charge of current affairs, resigned after the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut (more than 200 dead, thousands injured) on August 4, 2020, a coup de grace for a population already on its knees.
The gigantic explosion was triggered by a fire in a warehouse at the port which housed tons of ammonium nitrate stored "
without precautionary measures
" according to the authorities' own admission. In addition to the more than 200 dead, the explosion left more than 6,500 injured and destroyed entire neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital. A local investigation has still not yielded anything, no official having been held to account. Security forces fired tear gas on Tuesday at angry demonstrators protesting outside the residence in Beirut of a minister accused of blocking the investigation into the explosion.
Before Saad Hariri, Moustapha Adib, a diplomat little known to the general public appointed at the end of August to form a government, had also failed in the face of party resistance to his cabinet proposal.