Prime Minister-designate Dr. Mustapha Adib and Henri Estramant, Royal Bridges’ Managing Director and Diplomat Magazine’s Diplomatic Adviser. Image by Royal Bridges
Monday, 31 August 2020, Beirut, Lebanese Republic: Lebanese leaders named diplomat Dr. Mustapha Adib as prime minister-designate.
With its economy devastated by a financial crisis, a swathe of Beirut in tatters following a huge port explosion on 4 August, and sectarian tensions rising, Lebanon is facing the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-90 civil war.
Dr. Adib, erstwhile ambassador to Germany and doyen of the Arab diplomatic corps in Berlin, was named hours before French President Emmanuel Macron is due in Beirut for his second visit in less than a month. The French president will push politicians to enact reforms that donors have demanded to tackle corruption, and waste before they might release financial support.
Adib holds a doctorate in law and political science, visited areas hardest hit by the port explosion that killed some 190 people and injured 6,000 shortly after his nomination. Prime Minister Adib (48 years old) is married to a French national, is father to five children, and hails from Tripoli in northern Lebanon.
Adib’s name surfaced on Sunday when he was nominated by former prime ministers, including Saad al-Hariri who heads Lebanon’s biggest Sunni Muslim party. The post of prime minister must go to a Sunni in the Lebanese system.
Hariri’s Future Movement and the powerful Iranian-backed Shi’ite party Hezbollah were among those nominating him. With Hariri’s backing, Adib will enjoy more support than the Diab government, which was nominated by Hezbollah and its allies which together have a parliamentary majority.
For further information Dr. Mustapha Adib on Diplomat Magazine: https://diplomatmagazine.eu/?s=Mustapha+Adib
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Ambassador of the Arab Union, Talal El Amine; Ambassador of Nigeria to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar; Sheikh Rashid Al Khalifa (artist Rashid Al Khalifa); Ambassador of Egypt, Khaled Abdelhamid; Dr. Mustapha Adib, Lebanon’s Prime Minister.
