Lebanon PM-designate vows technocratic cabinet

BEIRUT: Lebanese prime minister-designate Hassan Diab said on Friday he wants to form a government of independent technocrats that can tackle the spiralling economic crisis as protests against his nomination spread.

Speaking as visiting US envoy David Hale called for reforms, the Hizbullah-backed premier vowed to form an inclusive cabinet that would secure much-needed foreign aid. Diab, a little-known 60-year-old engineering professor, was designated on Thursday with the endorsement of group Hizbullah and its allies but without the backing of Lebanon’s main bloc.

The nomination of the independent former education minister and self-professed "technocrat" ended nearly two months of wrangling among lawmakers. But it fuelled anger among Lebanon’s Muslims, who said the prime minister-designate did not enjoy the community’s backing for a post reserved by a power-sharing system in force since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

The community’s objections to Diab’s nomination fly in the face of the non-sectarian ethos of the two-month-old protest movement, which has demanded an end to the communal power-sharing system it blames for entrenching cronyism and incompetence.

For a second straight day, security forces in the capital scuffled with crowds of young men -- mainly supporters of former prime minister Saad Hariri -- trying to block roads in a district to condemn Diab’s designation.

In the mainly northern city of Tripoli, schools were closed and Diab opponents blocked roads, calling for a general strike, an AFP correspondent reported. The unrest prompted Hariri to call on his supporters to refrain from taking to the streets, in the second such appeal in two days.

Diab on Friday met Hariri and other political figures who did not endorse his nomination the previous day. Following the meeting with Hariri, Diab said he wants to form "a government of independent technocrats" -- a key demand of protesters.

"Hariri is giving his full support to the formation of this government," said Diab, who is also a vice president at Lebanon’s prestigious American University of Beirut. Hariri had been tipped in recent days to return to his job, seven weeks after an unprecedented wave of protests condemning corruption and sectarianism forced him out.

But the 49-year-old two-time premier bowed out on Wednesday, claiming that his political rivals were opposed to a technocrat-dominated government that he planned to form.

On Thursday, his party stopped short of throwing its weight behind Diab, raising fears that a government lacking the support of all of Lebanon’s factions could struggle to secure desperately needed foreign support to rescue an economy teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

But in an interview with Deutsche Welle aired on Friday, Diab said that he expected "full support from Europe and the US". He rejected suggestions that the support his nomination received from Hezbollah, which is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington, would hinder the disbursement of much-needed Western aid.

"Everyone is willing to cooperate so that Lebanon can have an exceptional government that is not like its predecessors in the number of technocrats and women included," he said.