Lebanese President Michel Aoun met with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who earlier this week vowed to send a “message of great firmness” to Lebanese figures blocking cabinet formation. (Credit: Dalati & Nohra)
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Electricité du Liban has announced that it will have to further ration its power supply, making increased power outages inevitable. The state monopoly, which for decades has failed to provide 24-hour electricity, said it will have to reduce its production by 16 percent — from 1,250 megawatts to 1,050 megawatts — as a result of Tuesday’s suspension of a $200 million treasury advance to EDL to purchase fuel. Lebanese Forces MPs had appealed the advance to the Constitutional Council out of opposition to using the central bank’s reserves to fund fuel imports. Officials will discuss “temporary solutions” to the electricity sector’s woes as they await the council’s response to an appeal against the decision to halt the funding, the head of Parliament’s energy committee, Nazih Najem, said after meeting with the caretaker finance and energy ministers. Najem asked the council to speed up the appeal process, warning that more hours of “darkness will progressively begin” from May 15.
Judge Ghada Aoun conducted a controversial search at the offices of a cash transit company for the second day in a row. The Mount Lebanon public prosecutor and State Security arrived on Thursday at the offices of Pro Sec, a company that provides security and cash transit services, as part of her investigations into transfers of dollars abroad. She left the offices after several hours, saying she was “satisfied” with the data she had obtained. The search took place after she was unable to obtain the files she was looking for during a raid of the offices on Wednesday. Pro Sec condemned what it called Aoun’s “chaotic acts,” saying her actions could damage the company’s reputation and viability, and the company’s lawyer filed a lawsuit against the prosecutor for the raid. In April, Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat dismissed Aoun from financial crimes cases, but she has refused to step aside.
President Michel Aoun used a meeting with France’s foreign minister to allude to his dissatisfaction with Saad Hariri’s role in deadlocked cabinet formation efforts. During a meeting with Jean-Yves Le Drian at the Presidential Palace, Aoun asserted that he would continue working to form a government despite what he said was the failure of “those concerned” to follow constitutional principles regarding cabinet formation, his office said. Le Drian also met with Nabih Berri at the Parliament speaker’s Ain al-Tineh residence and with Hariri at the French Embassy’s Pine Residence, as well as various political and civil society groups and figures, including the Kataeb Party, the National Bloc, Beirut Madinati and former MP Michel Mouawad. The French minister did not provide a statement after the meetings, but he is set to hold a press conference this morning at 8:30. Ahead of his arrival in Lebanon, Le Drian had vowed to send a “message of great firmness” to Lebanese figures blocking cabinet formation. Monday will mark nine months since Hassan Diab’s cabinet resigned in the wake of the Beirut port explosion.
Undocumented Syrian refugee children in Lebanon may be allowed to take official school exams. The Education Ministry has asked the cabinet to allow foreign students who do not hold legal residency to take the brevet and baccalaureate official exams. The ministry’s request follows a joint report published on Tuesday by Human Rights Watch and the Center for Lebanese Studies that said the Education Ministry has blocked Syrian refugee students who do not hold residency in Lebanon from taking the exams. In previous years, the ministry has issued a waiver for this requirement.
Hezbollah’s leader will deliver a televised address this evening on the occasion of International al-Quds Day. Hassan Nasrallah’s speech, set to begin at 5:30 p.m., will tackle the latest developments in Lebanon, Palestine and the region, the party’s Al-Manar TV said.