Hale Says Flexibility of Lebanese Leaders Only Way Out of Crisis

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U.S. Under Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs David Hale stressed on Wednesday that the United States and the international community are ready to help Lebanon but not without a “Lebanese partner.”

“America and the international community are ready to help but can do nothing meaningful without a Lebanese partner,” Hale said from Ain el-Tineh where he met Speaker Nabih Berri.

“It is time that Lebanese leaders show sufficient flexibility to form a government that is willing and capable of true and fundamental reform. That is the only way out of the crisis. It is also only a first step,” he added.

“Sustained cooperation will be needed if we are going to see transparent reforms adopted and implemented,” Hale said.

"America and its international partners are gravely concerned with the failure here to advance the critical reform agenda long demanded by the Lebanese people," Hale added.

"Very little progress has been made," the U.S. official lamented.

The current crisis, he said, was the culmination of decades of mismanagement, corruption and the failure of Lebanese leaders to put the interests of the country first.

Before meeting Berri, Hale met with caretaker Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe. He refrained from giving any statement to reporters after the meeting.

Hale arrived on Wednesday for a two-day trip during which he was expected to meet several top officials, including President Michel Aoun on Thursday.

The U.S. diplomat also met Wednesday with PM-designate Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat.

A brief statement issued by Hariri's press office said the talks tackled the latest political developments in Lebanon and the region and the bilateral ties between the two countries. A similar statement was issued by the PSP.

This is Hale's second visit to Lebanon since an enormous explosion at Beirut's port on August 4 killed more than 200 people, laid waste to much of the capital and forced the cabinet of outgoing premier Hassan Diab to resign.

The devastating blast compounded Lebanon's worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, but political leaders have yet to agree on a new government despite mounting financial woes.

International donors have conditioned aid on the implementation of a spate of reforms, including budget cuts, changes in the banking and electricity sectors and the restructuring of the country's debt pile.

Half of the population is now living below the poverty line and people have suffered amid rampant inflation.

The Lebanese pound, officially pegged to the dollar at 1,500 Lebanese pounds, sells for more than 12,000 to the greenback on the black market.

Nidaa al-Watan described Hale’s trip to Lebanon as “exploratory,” and “unlikely to produce any solution for the controversial sea border indirect talks between Lebanon and Israel.”

At the government file, the paper said Hale’s visit is expected to only carry “an American position that does not differ from previous positions calling for the formation of a credible government of specialists to begin implementing a reform program required of the international community and the IMF.”