Lebanon’s premier says new Cabinet faces disaster as it holds first meeting

Lebanon faces a ‘catastrophe’, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said yesterday after his newly unveiled Cabinet held its first meeting to tackle the twin challenges of a tenacious protest movement and a nosediving economy. Hassan Diab, who replaced Saad Hariri as prime minister, vowed to meet the demands from the street but demonstrators were unconvinced and scuffled with police overnight.

The 61-year-old academic was thrown in at the deep end for his first experience on the political big stage and admitted that the situation he inherited was desperate. “Today we are in a financial, economic and social dead end,” he said in a statement read by a government official after the new Cabinet’s inaugural meeting in Beirut.

“We are facing a catastrophe,” he said. His comments came after President Michel Aoun told Lebanon’s new “rescue team” Cabinet that ministers must work to meet the demands of the people during the first session of the new administration on Wednesday. “Your mission is to gain the confidence of the Lebanese people and work to achieve the goals they aspire to,” Mr Aoun said.

“It is necessary to address the economic situation, restore the confidence of the international community in Lebanese institutions and work to reassure the Lebanese people of their future. “We have already prepared an economic plan and financial reforms that the government will have to implement or amend when necessary.”

He suggested that ministers organise a run of Cabinet sessions to make up for lost time since the resignation of the previous government on October 29. The ministers formed a committee to prepare the ministerial statement to put before a vote in parliament.

Mr Diab finally formed his new administration late on Tuesday evening after meeting with Mr Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri at Baabda Palace. The move ends a political crisis amid nationwide rallies against the dire economic situation.