Lebanese foreign minister quits, warns ‘boat may sink’
‘CONFLICTING INTERESTS THREATEN TO TURN COUNTRY INTO A FAILED STATE’
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.