Lebanese Officials: Aoun’s Attempt to Bring Bassil Back to Cabinet Met with Rejection

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun wearing a face mask, heads a council of ministers meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 30, 2020. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun wearing a face mask, heads a council of ministers meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 30, 2020. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
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Lebanese Officials: Aoun’s Attempt to Bring Bassil Back to Cabinet Met with Rejection

Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun wearing a face mask, heads a council of ministers meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 30, 2020. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS
Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun wearing a face mask, heads a council of ministers meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon April 30, 2020. Dalati Nohra/Handout via REUTERS

Lebanese President Michel Aoun has been seeking to promote the formation of a government of political figures that would pave the way for a comeback for his son-in-law Gebran Bassil, who heads the Free Patriotic Movement, senior officials said.

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, the officials, who were not identified, expressed surprise at Aoun’s attempt to bring Bassil back to the cabinet, after the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab following the deadly bombing that rocked Beirut on August 4.

Not only opposition figures rejected Aoun’s attempts, but also main parties within the so-called “March 8 alliance”, which favored the formation of a “national unity government that would exclude Bassil.”

The same officials pointed out that Bassil has tried in vain to benefit from Hezbollah’s support and to promote Aoun’s proposal during his meeting on Monday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Hussein Khalil, the political aide to the Hezbollah chief.

Aoun is no longer in a position that allows him to impose his own conditions, the officials said, adding that Bassil’s nomination of former Lebanese ambassador to the United Nations, Nawaf Salam, to head the government, was nothing but a maneuver aimed at extorting the leader of al-Mustaqbal Movement, former Premier Saad Hariri, who was the first to nominate Salam to head the previous cabinet and was met at the time with rejection from the FPM chief and Hezbollah.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that the schedule, which was set for Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during his brief visit to Beirut, did not include a meeting with Bassil, although the latter had sought hard to get his share of the talks.

The officials stressed that there was no reason for Bassil to meet with Shoukry as long as the Egyptian FM visited Aoun.

According to the officials, the Egyptian foreign minister urged Lebanese politicians to benefit from Arab and international support, but was quoted as saying that there would only be humanitarian aid.

He stressed that economic and financial support for Lebanon required major measures by Lebanese officials, mainly the implementation of reforms.



UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Seeks $6 Billion to Ease Hunger Catastrophe in Sudan

Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)
Displaced Sudanese, who fled the Zamzam camp, gather near the town of Tawila in North Darfur on February 14, 2025. (AFP)

UN officials on Monday asked for $6 billion for Sudan this year from donors to help ease what they called the world's worst ever hunger catastrophe and the mass displacement of people brought on by civil war.

The UN appeal represents a rise of more than 40% from last year's for Sudan at a time when aid budgets around the world are under strain, partly due to a pause in funding announced by US President Donald Trump last month that has affected life-saving programs across the globe.

The UN says the funds are necessary because the impact of the 22-month war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - that has already displaced a fifth of its population and stoked severe hunger among around half its population - looks set to worsen.

World Food Program chief Cindy McCain, speaking via video to a room full of diplomats in Geneva, said: "Sudan is now the epicenter of the world's largest and most severe hunger crisis ever."

She did not provide figures, but Sudan's total population currently stands at about 48 million people. Among previous world famines, the Bengal Famine of 1943 claimed between 2 million and 3 million lives, according to several estimates, while millions are believed to have died in the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61.

Famine conditions have been reported in at least five locations in Sudan, including displacement camps in Darfur, a UN statement said, and this was set to worsen with continued fighting and the collapse of basic services.

"This is a humanitarian crisis that is truly unprecedented in its scale and its gravity and it demands a response unprecedented in scale and intent," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said.

One of the famine-stricken camps was attacked by the RSF last week as the group tries to tighten its grip on its Darfur stronghold.

While some aid agencies say they have received waivers from Washington to provide aid in Sudan, uncertainty remains on the extent of coverage for providing famine relief.

The UN plan aims to reach nearly 21 million people within the country, making it the most ambitious humanitarian response so far for 2025, and requires $4.2 billion - the rest being for those displaced by the conflict.