Lebanon’s information minister Manal Abdel Samad has resigned following the deadly port blast that killed more than 150 people and destroyed swathes of the capital.
In a statement reported by local media, Samad apologised to the Lebanese public for failing them, saying; “After the enormous Beirut catastrophe, I announce my resignation from government”.
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Abdel-Samad stated;
Given the magnitude of the catastrophe caused by the Beirut earthquake that shook the nation and hurt our hearts and minds, and in respect for the martyrs, and the pains of the wounded, missing and displaced, and in response to the public will for change, I resign from the government.
This comes amid call by protesters for the entire government to step down over the August 4 explosion, a blast widely seen as shocking proof of the rot at the core of the state apparatus.
Lebanese protesters enraged by the blast vowed to rally again after a night of street clashes in which they stormed several ministries.
Head of Lebanon’s Maronite church, Beshara Rai joined the chorus of people pressing Prime Minister Hassan Diab’s cabinet to step down, saying;
The blast could be described as a crime against humanity. It is not enough for a lawmaker to resign here or a minister to resign there. It is necessary, out of sensitivity to the feelings of the Lebanese and the immense responsibility required, for the entire government to resign because it is incapable of moving the country forward.
Rai echoed calls by Diab for early parliamentary polls — a long-standing demand of a protest movement that began in October, demanding the removal of a policial class deemed inept and corrupt.
He also joined world leaders, international organisations and the angry Lebanese public by pressing for an international probe into an explosion authorities say was triggered by a fire in a port warehouse, where a huge shipment of hazardous ammonium nitrate had languished for years.
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Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Friday rejected calls for an international investigation, which he said would “dilute the truth.”
At least six lawmakers have quit since the explosion. Under increased pressure from the street and foreign partners exasperated by the leadership’s inability to enact reforms, Diab’s government is fraying at the edges.
