Hariri’s Renomination for Premiership Revives French Initiative on Lebanon

Lebanese Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. (Reuters)
Lebanese Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. (Reuters)
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Hariri’s Renomination for Premiership Revives French Initiative on Lebanon

Lebanese Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. (Reuters)
Lebanese Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. (Reuters)

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s announcement that he was a possible candidate to head a new government has revived the French initiative that came to a halt with PM-designate Mustafa Adib’s stepping down from the job.

The former PM made the announcement during a televised interview on Thursday. Sources from his Mustaqbal Movement, however, explained that he did not present himself as a candidate, rather he said he was a “natural candidate” for the positions seeing as he is the head of an influential parliamentary bloc and leader of a large political party.

They added that Hariri offered a specific plan on how to stop Lebanon’s collapse and revive the French initiative. Now, Lebanon will wait to for the reactions to his proposal to later determine the next step. This includes holding consultations with former prime ministers and talks between the Mustaqbal and Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) that will be followed with Hariri kicking off political contacts next week.

Hariri had previously said that he would not nominate himself for the premiership unless conditions he has stipulated are met. Among them are rejecting the appointment of known political figures to his government. Head of the FPM, MP Gebran Bassil, is among the names vetoed by Hariri.

Political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the FPM may reject Hariri’s candidacy if he is still insistent on such a condition.

FPM sources told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We are awaiting the result of the contacts that Hariri will make and see what he is proposing before taking a final position. Perhaps he has something new to offer.”

“When Adib was appointed, we said that we do not want to be represented and that we will not place hurdles. However, what applies to Adib does not apply to Hariri,” they remarked. They added, however, that they will wait and see what Hariri comes up with and whether he will meet with Bassil.

Member of the FPM’s Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc MP Mario Aoun told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Hariri’s proposals appear to have good intentions, but in substance, he does not seem to have radically changed his stances.”

Sources from the “Shiite duo” of Hezbollah and Amal have refused to comment on Hariri’s position, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that they are “leaving room for contacts. We will review the positions of our allies and political forces before making any position.”

The Iran-backed Hezbollah and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal movement have previously expressed their support for Hariri’s nomination. They also back the formation of a technocratic-political government and are demanding that the finance portfolio be retained by a Shiite figure. It is this insistence, among others, that had scuttled Adib’s efforts to form a new government.

Amid all this speculation, the Mustaqbal sources stressed that Hariri ultimately renominated himself in order to save the country and French initiative.

His proposal is summed up in his demand for returning to the political mechanism that was agreed in September during the meeting at the Pine Residence with French President Emmanuel Macron during his second visit to Beirut.

Hariri has “opened the door wide for committing to the French initiative, its political, reform and economic mechanisms. He is not opening the door for more problems, but paving the way for more solutions by returning to the Pine Residence agreement, forming a government of experts, not partisan figures, and adopting a clear six-month program,” said the sources.



Tens of Thousands Go Hungry in Sudan after Trump Aid Freeze

(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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Tens of Thousands Go Hungry in Sudan after Trump Aid Freeze

(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
(FILES) A woman collects food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country's Northern State, on January 9, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

For the first time in nearly two years of war, soup kitchens in famine-stricken Sudan are being forced to turn people away, with US President Donald Trump's aid freeze gutting the life-saving schemes.

"People will die because of these decisions," said a Sudanese fundraising volunteer, who has been scrambling to find money to feed tens of thousands of people in the capital Khartoum.

"We have 40 kitchens across the country feeding between 30,000 to 35,000 people every day," another Sudanese volunteer told AFP, saying all of them had closed after Trump announced the freezing of foreign assistance and the dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

"Women and children are being turned away and we can't promise them when we can feed them again," she said, requesting anonymity for fear that speaking publicly could jeopardize her work.

In much of Sudan, community-run soup kitchens are the only thing preventing mass starvation and many of them rely on US funding.

"The impact of the decision to withdraw funding in this abrupt manner has life-ending consequences," Javid Abdelmoneim, medical team leader at Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, told AFP.

"This is yet another disaster for people in Sudan, already suffering the consequences of violence, hunger, a collapse of the healthcare system and a woeful international humanitarian response," he added.

Shortly after his inauguration last month, Trump froze US foreign aid and announced the dismantling of USAID.

His administration then issued waivers for "life-saving humanitarian assistance", but there have so far been no signs of this taking effect in Sudan and aid workers said their efforts were already crippled.

In what the United Nations has decried as a global "state of confusion", agencies on the ground in Sudan have been forced to halt essential food, shelter and health operations.

"All official communications have gone dark," another Sudanese aid coordinator told AFP, after USAID workers were put on leave this week.

The kitchens that have survived "are stretching resources and sharing as much as they can", he said.

"But there's just not enough to go around."

As one of the few independent organizations still standing in Sudan, MSF said it had been fielding requests from local responders to quickly step in.

However, "MSF can't fill the gap left by the US funding withdrawal," Abdelmoneim said.

The United States was the largest single donor to Sudan last year, contributing $800 million or around 46 percent of funds to the UN's response plan.

The UN estimates it currently has less than 6 percent of the humanitarian funding needed for Sudan in 2025.

Over 8 million people are on the brink of famine in Sudan, according to the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.

Famine is expected to spread to at least five more areas of Sudan by May, before the upcoming rainy season is likely to make access to food all the more difficult across the country.