BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab threatened on Saturday to stop performing his duties to pressure politicians to form a new government.
“If seclusion helps with cabinet formation then I am ready to resort to it, although it goes against my convictions for it disrupts the entire state and is detrimental to the Lebanese,” Diab said in a speech.
Diab’s cabinet resigned on the back of the Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion that devastated swathes of the capital.
Prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri was nominated in October but has failed to form a new cabinet so far due to political deadlock between him and President Michel Aoun.
Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Laila Bassam; Editing by Mark heinrich