November 13, 2021
Arab League Envoy Backs Call for Kordahi’s Resignation
Miqati Pledges to Hold Elections by May 21, 2022
“How Corruption Ruined Lebanon” by Rania Abouzeid
Arab League Envoy Backs Calls for Kordahi’s Resignation
This week Arab League envoy Hossam Zaki met Lebanese political leaders in an effort to explore resolutions to the escalating diplomatic crisis between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. [AP] Zaki supported calls for Information Minister George Kordahi’s resignation adding that “from the very beginning, the resignation could have defused the crisis.” [Al Arabiya] Without giving any specifics, Kordahi says he will not resign until there are “guarantees” that doing so would resolve the diplomatic crisis between Gulf countries and Lebanon. [AP]
RESPONSE
“It’s apparent that Gulf countries are resisting US and other overtures to urge the restoration of relations with Lebanon until Information Minister George Kordahi resigns or is removed from office, if this is indeed their goal. Although it is in the interests of the Gulf Arab states to counter the Iranian narrative and support independent mechanisms to aid the Lebanese Armed Forces, World Bank food programs, poverty alleviation, and educational needs at all levels, especially AUB and LAU, no help will be forthcoming until the Lebanese government resolves the Kordahi issue as a sign of its commitment to rapprochement.”
-ATFL President Edward M. Gabriel
Miqati Pledges to Hold Elections by May 21, 2022
This week, Prime Minister Najib Miqati pledged to hold Lebanon’s parliamentary elections by May 21 of next year. Currently, parliament has agreed to hold elections on March 27, 2022 but Miqati says the pledge to hold elections by May 21 was made in case the election date changes again. The prime minister made the announcement in a meeting with the Economic and Social Council during which he outline the government’s work based on eight pillars: “the security, the financial and economic file, the social file, services and infrastructure, holding parliamentary elections on time, local and international public policies, fighting corruption, putting the required laws into practice, the judiciary and its reform.” [The 961]
RESPONSE
“Prime Minister Miqati has a full agenda to build even a minimal level of trust with the people. Negotiations with the IMF with short-term results, getting electricity reform going in the right direction, implementing the cash card system without political constraints, and formalizing the process for free and fair elections that don’t have the whiff of manipulation in the results are the minimal steps the people can and should expect. It’s time to break the logjams and seize leadership opportunities, for the peoples’ sake.”
-ATFL Vice President for Policy Jean AbiNader
“How Corruption Ruined Lebanon” by Rania Abouzeid
Rania Abouzeid writes for the New York Times Magazine on the August 4 Beirut Port explosion and government corruption and negligence that allowed it to happen. She writes about Central Inspection Board head Judge Georges Attieh’s experience during the blast when the explosion tore through his mother’s apartment and his work since then. Abouzeid says, “For Attieh, Lebanon faces nothing less than a battle for its destiny.” [NY Times]
RESPONSE
“The Central Inspection Board was created to act as a monitoring and inspection body of the Lebanese government and its various agencies. Abouzeid describes how its head, Judge Georges Attieh, attempts to do his job and is constantly thwarted by the country’s political leadership. Much like his counterpart Judge Tarek Bitar, it is another illustration of how Lebanon’s warlord leaders have no commitment to justice when it threatens their way of doing business. Without an independent judiciary, this sad state of decline will continue and all Lebanese will pay the price. Ask the families of the Beirut Port blast victims.”
-ATFL Vice President for Policy Jean AbiNader
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a non-profit, nonpartisan leadership organization of Lebanese-Americans.