Left: Jeanne Mrad at the U.N. HQ in New York. (Screenshot of a speech). On the right, journalist Najat Charafeddine. (Credit: Her social networks)
One week after the election of Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, the first appointments to the team surrounding him at the presidency are starting to be unveiled.
The head of state has entrusted the position of spokesperson for the Lebanese presidency to journalist Najat Charafeddine. In parallel, diplomat Jeanne Mrad, who serves at Lebanon's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, has been appointed as an advisor for diplomatic affairs at the presidency. These two appointments were confirmed to our correspondent at the Baabda Presidential Palace, Hoda Chedid.
Najat Charafeddine, who holds a bachelor's degree in Communication and Media Studies from the Lebanese University, started her career at Future TV, founded by then-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, where she worked for 20 years before moving to Arab Television as a journalist and presenter. She then continued her career in radio, at Voice of All Lebanon, where she hosted a political program. She has made numerous media appearances and published articles in newspapers such as Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed and As-Safir, and taught for a time at Antonine University. Furthermore, she is the wife of former Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni, who was chosen by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in the government of Hassan Diab.
Meanwhile, Jeanne Mrad holds a master's degree in law obtained in the early 2000s from Saint Joseph University in Beirut. This career diplomat has served the Lebanese state in several countries over the past 20 years: in Serbia, in Austria where she co-headed the Lebanese diplomatic representation, in Switzerland and in Morocco as a charge d'affaires. Until now, she held the position of charge d'affaires at Lebanon's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. In 2023, the Mrad was revoked by caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who asked her to return to Lebanon following her speech at a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York. The matter raised questions within the Lebanese political and media circles, with some denouncing it as an arbitrary decision.
The two appointments have been positively received in the Lebanese media, mentioning the unprecedented aspect of female appointments to such positions within the Lebanese presidency.
This article was translated from L'Orient-Le Jour.
