Kubis Says Keeping Lebanon without Govt. ‘Increasingly Irresponsible’

The UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis stressed on Wednesday that keeping Lebanon without an effective government is “increasingly irresponsible.”

“Given the situation and developments in the country and the region, it is increasingly irresponsible to keep Lebanon without an effective and credible government,” said Kubis in a tweet.

“I urge the leaders to move without any further delay,” he added.

Lebanon is without a cabinet and in the grips of a deepening economic crisis after a two-month-old protest movement forced Saad Hariri to stand down as prime minister on October 29.

Anti-government protests continued after Hariri's resignation, while political parties negotiated for weeks before nominating Diab, a professor and former education minister, to replace him on December 19.

Echoing protester demands, Diab promised to form a government of independent experts within six weeks -- in a country where appointing a cabinet can take months.