Lebanon forms new government

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Prime Minister Hassan Diab (center left), President Michel Aoun (center), and Minister of Defense Zeina Akr (center right) with the other new Cabinet members at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, on Wednesday Associated Press/Photo by Hassan Ammar

Lebanon’s new Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Hassan Diab, met for the first time on Wednesday after months without a functioning government. Former leader Saad Hariri resigned in October amid anti-government demonstrations in the face of a worsening economic crisis.

Will the new leadership satisfy protesters? Demonstrators returned to the streets outside Parliament of Lebanon on Wednesday chanting slogans against Diab, a professor and former education minister. The 20 Cabinet members are mostly specialists backed by the Islamist party Hezbollah, its allies, and the Christian Free Patriotic Movement party. Protests in October reflected a rejection of the political elite and calls for an independent government. Lebanon has lost 160,000 jobs since October, and 1 in 10 companies have closed.

Dig deeper: Read my report in World Tour about the connections among ongoing protest movements around the globe.

Onize Ohikere

Onize is WORLD’s Africa reporter and deputy global desk chief. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate and earned a journalism degree from Minnesota State University–Moorhead. Onize resides in Abuja, Nigeria.

@onize_ohiks