Macron Says Lebanon's Hezbollah Rejects Concessions

French President Emmanuel Macron. EPA file photo
French President Emmanuel Macron. EPA file photo
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Macron Says Lebanon's Hezbollah Rejects Concessions

French President Emmanuel Macron. EPA file photo
French President Emmanuel Macron. EPA file photo

French President Emmanuel Macron slammed Hezbollah on Sunday and said he would not give up on an initiative to save Lebanon from collapse, but that he was "ashamed" of the country's leaders and would increase pressure on them to change course.

Lebanon's prime minister-designate, Mustapha Adib, was picked on Aug. 31 to form a cabinet after Macron's intervention secured a consensus on naming him.

Adib quit on Saturday after failing to line up a non-partisan cabinet, dealing a blow to the French plan aimed at rallying sectarian leaders to tackle the country's crisis.

"I am ashamed of Lebanon's political leaders," Macron told a news conference in Paris. "The leaders did not want, clearly and resolutely, to respect the commitments made to France and the international community. They decided to betray this commitment."

Under the French roadmap, the new government would take steps to tackle corruption and implement reforms needed to trigger billions of dollars of international aid to fix an economy crushed by a huge debt.

But there was deadlock over a demand by Lebanon's two main Shiite groups, Amal and Iran-backed Hezbollah, that they name several ministers, including finance, who will have a big role in drawing up economic rescue plans.

Macron criticized both parties for blocking efforts to form a government by a mid-September deadline.

"I understood that the goal of Hezbollah was to make no concessions ... The failure is theirs," he said.

"There's a question that needs to be asked to Hezbollah and ourselves. Is it really a political party or does it proceed just in a logic dictated by Iran, and its terrorist forces?" Macron told the news conference.

He said political leaders had chosen "to deliver Lebanon to the game of foreign powers", destabilizing the region.

He gave Lebanon's political class four to six weeks to implement his roadmap, and said he would commit to holding a donor conference for Lebanon in October. He ruled out immediate sanctions.



Sudan’s Ruling Council Reshuffles Cabinet amid Brutal Conflict

A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
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Sudan’s Ruling Council Reshuffles Cabinet amid Brutal Conflict

A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)

Sudan's army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at war with paramilitaries, has announced a cabinet reshuffle that replaces four ministers including those for foreign affairs and the media.

The late Sunday announcement comes with the northeast African country gripped by the world's worst displacement crisis, threatened by famine and desperate for aid, according to the UN.

In a post on its official Facebook page, Sudan's ruling sovereignty council said Burhan had approved replacement of the ministers of foreign affairs, the media, religious affairs and trade.

The civil war that began in April 2023 pits Burhan's military against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries under the command of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Since then, the army-aligned Sudanese government has been operating from the eastern city of Port Sudan, which has largely remained shielded from the violence.

But the Sudanese state "is completely absent from the scene" in all sectors, economist Haitham Fathy told AFP earlier this year.

The council did not disclose reasons behind the reshuffle but it coincides with rising violence in al-Gezira, south of the capital Khartoum, and North Darfur in Sudan's far west bordering Chad.

On Friday the spokesman for United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he condemned attacks by the RSF on Gezira, after the United States made a similar call over the violence against civilians.

Among the key government changes, Ambassador Ali Youssef al-Sharif, a retired diplomat who previously served as Sudan's ambassador to China and South Africa, was appointed foreign minister.

He replaces Hussein Awad Ali who had held the role for seven months.

Journalist and TV presenter Khalid Ali Aleisir, based in London, was named minister of culture and media.

The reshuffle also saw Omar Banfir assigned to the trade ministry and Omar Bakhit appointed to the ministry of religious affairs.

Over the past two weeks, the RSF increased attacks on civilians in Gezira following the army's announcement that an RSF commander had defected.

According to an AFP tally based on medical and activist sources, at least 200 people were killed in Gezira last month alone. The UN reports that the violence has forced around 120,000 people from their homes.

In total, Sudan hosts more than 11 million displaced people, while another 3.1 million are now sheltering beyond its borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.