More than a year after the devastating port explosion in Beirut, the two-time ex-prime minister Najib Mikati has set up a new government. The new cabinet should meet for the first time on Monday, it was reported on Friday in Beirut. He knew that the situation in the country was difficult, said Mikati in a first appearance in a tear-choked voice.
There are no more funds for subsidies, the new head of government announced an austerity program. At the same time he expressed the hope of stopping the decline of the country and helping it to regain prosperity. Mikati also promised to organize parliamentary elections “in due course”. The previous government had resigned as a result of mass protests after the explosion in the Beirut port, for which many Lebanese had blamed the chronic mismanagement in the country.
