Foreign Minister Hitti quits over lack of "will to reform"

Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti resigned on Monday over what he described as lack of political will to reform as his nation wrestles with a financial crisis posing the biggest threat to stability since a 1975-1990 civil war.

 

Foreign donors have made it clear there will be no aid until Beirut enacts long-stalled reforms to tackle state waste and corruption, root causes of the collapse. Talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have been put on hold amid a row over the scale of financial losses.

 

"Given the absence of an effective will to achieve structural, comprehensive reform which our society and the international community have urged us to do, I have decided to resign," Hitti said in a statement.

 

"I took part in this government to work for one boss called Lebanon, then I found in my country multiple bosses and contradicting interests," he said. "If they do not come together in the interest of rescuing the Lebanese people, God forbid, the ship will sink with everyone on it."

 

Hitti, a former Lebanese ambassador to the Arab League, was named foreign minister in January when Prime Minister Hassan Diab took office with the support of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement and its allies.

 

Later in the day, Prime Minister Hassan Diab met with Hitti and accepted his resignation. The prime minister kicked off immediately contacts to appoint a new foreign minister.

 

Diab then headed to the Baabda Presidential Palace where he met with President Michel Aoun and discussed with him Hitti’s resignation. 

This as sources told LBCI that Hitti voiced to Diab his objections about the government’s performance and its failure in achieving any progress, mainly in the required reforms.

 

The same sources added that the appointment of a new minister of foreign affairs will be within hours, noting that the most likely name for the position is Charbel Wehbe.