Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced, Monday, August 10, the resignation of his government, after the departure of several members of his team under pressure from the street who accuses the political class of being responsible for the devastating and deadly double explosion at the port of Beirut.

Following this announcement, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, called for the "rapid formation of a government which will prove itself to the population". But for Sibylle Rizk, director of public policies of the NGO Kulluna Irada interviewed Tuesday on France 24, "the resignation of Hassan Diab does not solve the equation facing the Lebanese".

"The only hope is popular pressure"

This resignation "does not satisfy the Lebanese because the system of power in Lebanon ignores the institutions", affirms the representative of this NGO which works for political reform in Lebanon. According to Sibylle Rizk, Hassan Diab was not independent, the power being "in the hands of a club of figures that everyone knows, representing community leaders who have proven that they do not want to let go of the reins".

A few months after the start of a large-scale protest movement against the political and economic crisis, the guest of France 24 assures: "The only hope is popular pressure." Very strong pressure which has already brought down two governments, she recalls. "But it took two dramas of unparalleled magnitude." Indeed, Lebanon has suffered for several months the worst financial crisis in its history, leading to the impoverishment of its population. The double explosion at the port of Beirut - which left more than 150 dead and 6,000 injured, and left 300,000 people homeless - only rekindled protests against the corruption, irresponsibility and carelessness of the leaders Lebanese.

However, warns Sibylle Rizk, "for it to express itself and transform itself into a political project, this popular anger must be structured around a new political work".

"We need a state"

Will the departure of Hassan Diab's government make it possible to see new political figures emerge? "It is the men and women of Lebanon who are making the change", continues the representative of Kulluna Irada, referring to a Lebanon "for too long divided along community fault lines", which must now be rebuilt politically on the basis of the links that unite the Lebanese, by establishing a direct relationship between citizens and their political representatives. "We need a state. It's a huge challenge."

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