Gulf News

Lebanese foreign minister quits, warns ‘boat may sink’

‘CONFLICTIN­G INTERESTS THREATEN TO TURN COUNTRY INTO A FAILED STATE’

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Lebanon’s foreign minister resigned yesterday, accusing colleagues of lacking any intention to institute meaningful reforms and warning that conflictin­g interests threatened to turn the country into “a failed state.”

Nassif Hitti, 67, had been in the post less than seven months, and his departure after so short a time reflects the frictions paralysing the government. Charbel Wehbe, a presidenti­al adviser and veteran diplomat, was appointed to succeed Hitti.

“I took part in the government to work for one boss, Lebanon,” Hitti, a former Arab League diplomat, said in a statement. “I found multiple bosses and conflictin­g interests in my country, and if they don’t come together for the interest of the Lebanese people and save it, the boat, God forbid, will sink.”

His resignatio­n is a blow to Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s government, which has struggled to implement reforms amid spiralling inflation and soaring unemployme­nt and poverty, made worse by the pandemic.

Aoun aide replaces Hitti

A few hours later, Diab held a meeting with President Michel Aoun after which Sharbel Wahbe, a presidenti­al adviser, was appointed to succeed Hitti as foreign minister.

Hitti, after submitting his resignatio­n to Diab, left the government house without making any comments yesterday. Later, he issued a strongly worded statement explaining his resignatio­n, saying the government had failed to manage the crisis and implement the required reforms to save the country.

“After giving it a lot of honest thought, I have come to the conclusion that I cannot perform my duties in these historical circumstan­ces,” Hitti said. He said he had decided to resign “due to the absence of a vision for Lebanon ... and the absence of an effective will to achieve comprehens­ive structural reform.”

In a stark warning, he said Lebanon was turning into a “failed state’’ and urged politician­s to rally around the country’s national interest.

 ?? AP ?? A man jogs next a caution tape cordons off the Mediterran­ean Sea off the corniche, officially closed following the government’s measures to stop the spread of coronaviru­s in Beirut.
AP A man jogs next a caution tape cordons off the Mediterran­ean Sea off the corniche, officially closed following the government’s measures to stop the spread of coronaviru­s in Beirut.

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