Lebanese PM Adib calls all parties to cooperate to facilitate formation of new government
Lebanon is in the throes of an economic crisis that marks the worst threat to its stability since the 1975-90 civil war. But French efforts to get its fractious leaders to agree a new government to start fixing the problems have yet to bear fruit.
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib said on Monday all parties should cooperate to facilitate the formation of a new government and urged everyone to work so that a French initiative succeeds immediately.
The cabinet formation process has hit a logjam over the demand of Lebanon’s two dominant Shi’ite parties, the Iran-backed Hezbollah and its ally the Amal Movement, to name Shiite ministers in cabinet including the finance minister.
“Lebanon doesn’t have the luxury of wasting time amid the unprecedented crises that it is going through,” said Adib, a Sunni Muslim who is backed by former Lebanese prime ministers including Saad al-Hariri.
Any additional delay would exacerbate the crises, he said.
All parties should cooperate for the formation of a government of specialists “capable of halting the collapse and starting work to get the country out the crises,” he said.
Adib said he would spare no effort “to achieve this goal in cooperation with the president of the republic”.
