Lebanon’s new president names head of the International Court of Justice as the country’s new prime minister.
Lebanon’s new President Joseph Aoun has named prominent diplomat and President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) based in The Hague, Nawaf Salam, as Lebanon’s new prime minister.
Salam was asked to form Lebanon’s new government after he was named prime minister by a large number of legislators on Monday, in a move that has apparently angered Hezbollah and its allies.
Salam’s nomination was made by western-backed groups as well as independents in the Lebanese parliament. Salam has the support of Saudi Arabia and western countries as well. Hezbollah legislators abstained from naming any candidate for the prime minister job.
Salam’s nomination is regarded by many as a glimpse of hope after the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war that has killed at least 4,000 people, and injured close to 20,000 others.
The war has also caused widespread destruction across the country, mainly in the south, but also reaching the capital Beirut. The damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of euros.
The war came to a temporary halt in late November when a US-brokered 60-day truce went into effect.
Shortly after Salam won majority backing from Lebanese legislators, people celebrated in the streets of Beirut with fireworks, hoping that his nomination, and last week’s election of Joseph Aoun as president, would help release billions of euros of investments and loans by foreign donors, relieving a dire economic crisis that has plagued the country for years.
Neither Aoun nor Salam are considered part of the country’s political class that is blamed for widespread corruption and mismanagement over the past decades.
Tensions with Hezbollah
In past years, Hezbollah has repeatedly blocked Salam from becoming prime minister, labelling him as a US-backed candidate.
“We will see their acts when it comes to forcing the occupiers to leave our country, bringing back prisoners, reconstruction” and the implementation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Raad, said after meeting with Aoun.
Raad added that Hezbollah extended its hand last week by electing Aoun and they were hoping to meet an extended hand from the other side, “but this hand was cut off.”
What’s next in the process?
After a day of consultations between Aoun and legislators, Salam got the backing of 84 deputies, while outgoing Prime Minister Najib Mikati received nine votes. Thirty-four legislators from the 128-member legislature abstained.
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati congratulated Salam shortly after results were out to congratulate and wish him luck with the new job.
Salam is expected to be back in Lebanon now that he is prime minister-designate. A meeting is schedule for Tuesday at the presidential palace in Beirut between Aoun, Salam and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to formally initiate the process of forming a new cabinet.
It was not immediately clear whether Salam plans to resign as President of the ICJ.
His appointment comes after more than two years in which Lebanon was run by a caretaker government headed by Najib Mikati.
Salam has a difficult task ahead of him following the truce with Israel that caused widespread destruction in the Mediterranean nation. The primary goal will look to rebuild the damage and begin the healing process.
Nawaf will also have to work on getting the small nation of less than six million people, of which some one million were displaced during the war, out of its five-year economic crisis which has crippled the population and the country’s infrastructure and services.
Who is Nawaf Salam?
Salam, who is 71 years old, is a member of a prominent Sunni Muslim family from Beirut. His uncle, Saeb Salam, was one of the country’s leaders who fought for independence from France, and later served several terms as prime minister. Salam’s cousin, Tammam Salam, also served as prime minister for two years back in 2014.
Salam holds a doctorate in political science from France’s prestigious Sciences Po university, as a doctorate in history from Sorbonne University. He also has a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School. Salam has worked at a host of universities as a lecturer in various fields.
In 2007, he was named Lebanon’s Ambassador to the United Nations, where he served in that capacity for 10 years. In 2018, Salam was elected as a judge on the ICJ, and in February of last year was elected president of the UN’s top court, becoming the first Lebanese citizen to hold that post.
