Lebanon .. Diab announces his government and protests flare up again

Protesters demonstrated in Beirut and several Lebanese cities last night after Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab announced the formation of his government, which was composed of twenty ministers.

The protesters blocked roads in Beirut and the Bekaa region, and in the north, hundreds of people staged a sit-in near the parliament building in the center of the capital. The protesters confirmed their rejection of the new squad, describing it as a "political quota government."

Activist Walid Fakhreddin told Al Jazeera that this government is a "one-color government ... the March 8 government ... a government of advisers to corrupt ministers and corrupt political forces."

For its part, the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces asked the protesters to maintain the peacefulness of the demonstration and refrain from rioting, and called on them to stay away from the thorny fence in front of one of the entrances leading to the parliament headquarters "to preserve their safety."

On Tuesday evening, Hassan Diab announced the formation of the new government, which Hezbollah supports and which the Future Movement does not participate in, and set its goals.

Specialists backed by parties
Diab said in a press conference after presenting the formation of the government to President Michel Aoun in the Baabda Palace in the capital, Beirut, that the new government structure is composed of specialists and qualified people and is not affected by political whims, adding that he set specific criteria for the government work team.

The Prime Minister-designate emphasized that the government would work to develop a new election law that "strengthens the national cohesion", and saw that the new formation expresses the aspirations of the protesters and will work to meet their demands, promising to work to ensure the independence of the judiciary, recover stolen money, combat corruption and unemployment, and protect the poor segments From tax injustice.

Defense Secretary
The Ministry of Defense in the Diab government was assigned to Zina Aker, the Interior Ministry to Major General Mohammed Fahmy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Nassif Hatti, and the Finance Ministry to Ghazi Wazani. The government includes six women, for the first time in the history of Lebanon.

According to Reuters, my weight was chosen to take over the finance portfolio with the support of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and even the former Lebanese delegate to the League of Arab States was chosen for the position of foreign minister with the support of the Free Patriotic Movement founded by President Aoun.

The Al-Jazeera correspondent had previously quoted sources following up on the path of forming the government, that an agreement had been reached between the March 8 forces and the Prime Minister-designate to add two cabinet seats to the proposed formation, bringing the number of new government ministers to 20.

According to the agreement, most of the contract that prevented the announcement of the government until Monday evening was resolved, so that the Marada Movement would name two ministers, and the Druze community would be given two seats, with the Free Patriotic Movement nominating six ministers from non-partisan specialists, and thus not obtaining the idle third of the government.

The leader of the Marada Movement, Suleiman Franjieh, said yesterday that the "greed and greed" of the president of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gibran Bassil, is what impedes the formation of the government.

Franjieh refused in statements that any political team obtain a third of the ministerial seats in the government, allowing it to disrupt its decisions.

Reuters news agency quoted analysts as saying that Hezbollah's role in forming the government might make it struggle to persuade countries to provide Lebanon with the financial support it desperately needs.

Heavily indebted Lebanon lacks an effective government since Saad Hariri resigned from the post of prime minister last October under pressure from popular protests.