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Lebanon’s prime minister-designate quits after failing to form a government

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Lebanon’s prime minister-designate, Mustapha Adib, announced that he was stepping down from the post on Saturday after failing to form a nonpartisan Cabinet.

The resignation was widely seen as a blow to French President Emmanuel Macron, who last month rallied the country’s sectarian leaders behind Adib in a bid to put an end to the worst political and economic crisis to ravage Lebanon since the end of its long civil war in 1990.

Weeks after a catastrophic explosion in the Port of Beirut killed 190 people and wiped out part of the capital in early August, Macron visited the former French colony and announced an initiative to form a new, reformist government.

At the time, the French president told POLITICO that he was making a “risky bet” by wading into the crisis in Lebanon, and that the move involved putting his “political capital” on the table.

Macron tapped Adib, Lebanon’s former ambassador to Berlin, to spearhead the initiative, but political infighting ultimately doomed any chance of forming a solid Cabinet.

An official close to Macron said that the resignation represented “a collective betrayal by Lebanese parties” and added that it was “essential to have a government capable of receiving international aid” installed as soon as possible.

The official said that, despite the setback, France would not give up on the country and that Macron would make a statement “in due time.”

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