Lebanon’s Rai to Hariri: Avoid 'Secret Deals' in Forming Cabinet

Arab World

October 25th, 11:45am

Asharq Al-Awsat

Protesters wave the national flag in downtown Beirut on October 19, 2019. (AFP)

Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai urged Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Sunday to avoid back-door deals and to quickly form a new government that will start lifting the country out of financial crisis. Veteran politician Hariri was named premier for a fourth time on Thursday, a year after huge protests against the ruling elite pushed him to quit. Hariri promised a cabinet of specialists to enact reforms set out in a French plan to unlock foreign aid. Political rifts, which plagued his last term, have delayed a deal on a new government for weeks. He faces major challenges to navigate Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing politics to agree a cabinet, which must then tackle a list of woes including a banking crisis and currency crash. In his weekly sermon, Rai congratulated Hariri and urged him to rebuild the devastated capital Beirut after the huge port blast in August that killed nearly 200 people. Rai had criticized leaders for delaying cabinet talks, blaming them for the unprecedented economic collapse which has doomed many Lebanese to poverty. “Overcome the conditions and counter-conditions of the political groups, avoid the quagmire of interests…Beware of secret bilateral deals and promises,” he told Hariri on Sunday. At the same time, Rai said: “Do not put the Christians behind your back.” Hariri was not nominated for the PM job by Lebanon’s two main Christian blocs: The Free Patriotic Movement, led by President Michel Aoun’s son-in-law MP Gebran Bassil, and the Lebanese Forces led by Aoun’s civil war rival Samir Geagea. Rai also called on Hariri to work with Aoun to ensure the revival of the French plan to help Lebanon and the success of Lebanon’s talks with Israel over their disputed maritime border. The patriarch repeated his calls for the country to be “neutral” from regional conflicts – widely understood as references to the Hezbollah party that is backed by Iran.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2585416/lebanon%E2%80%99s-rai-hariri-avoid-secret-deals-forming-cabinet