Lebanon’s Foreign Minister resigns

Shafaq News/ Lebanon’s foreign minister resigned on Monday warning a lack of vision and a will to make changes risked turning the country into “failed.”

Hitti submitted his resignation to the prime minister and later issued a strongly worded statement explaining his resignation, saying that:

“Lebanon today is not Lebanon that we loved and wanted as a beacon and a model,” the resigned minister said. “Lebanon today is slipping into a failed state.”

He blamed an absence of vision as well as historical circumstances for the present crisis.

“In the absence of an effective will to achieve the required comprehensive structural reforms that our nation demands, I decided to resign from my duties as Minister of Foreign Affairs. I hope the government and those in charge of the state administrations reconsider many policies and practices in order to give priority to the people and the country over all other considerations and divisions.”

He said that instead of a clear will to fix the country's ills, he found a government and politicians with competing interests.

"What is required in the state-building process are creative minds, a clear vision, sincere intentions, a culture of institutions and the rule of law, accountability and transparency," he said.

"I participated in this government to work for one employer called Lebanon, but I found in my country (different) employers and contradictory interests. They did not agree on the interest to rescue the Lebanese people.”