Lebanon at last has a new government. More than a year after the Beirut port blast (MEES, 14 August 2020), Sunni telecom tycoon Najib Mikati was named as Lebanon’s new prime minister. Last year’s port explosion forced PM Hassan Diab to hand in his resignation, but until now nobody had managed to forge a new government. Former PM Saad al-Hariri was the most recent to try his hand at the task, but withdrew in July (MEES, 23 July).
For Mr Mikati the hard work starts now. The country is in economic freefall, the power sector is in meltdown and while this week’s arrival of fuel (MEES, 17 September) is a welcome development, it won’t be enough to restore regular power generation. (CONTINUED - 294 WORDS)
