Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Lebanon’s new head of state, destructive wildfires in Los Angeles County, and a deadly attack on Chad’s presidential palace.
Forming a Government
Lebanese parliamentarians elected Gen. Joseph Aoun on Thursday to be the country’s next president, ending a yearslong power vacuum that witnessed a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah and a worsening economic crisis. “A new phase in the history of Lebanon begins today,” Aoun said.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Lebanon’s new head of state, destructive wildfires in Los Angeles County, and a deadly attack on Chad’s presidential palace.
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Forming a Government
Lebanese parliamentarians elected Gen. Joseph Aoun on Thursday to be the country’s next president, ending a yearslong power vacuum that witnessed a 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah and a worsening economic crisis. “A new phase in the history of Lebanon begins today,” Aoun said.
Lebanon’s power-sharing system is prone to political gridlock. Following the end of then-President Michel Aoun’s term in October 2022, lawmakers failed to choose a new head of state 12 times. Michel Aoun, no relation to the new president, was himself elected after a nearly two-and-a-half-year period without someone at Lebanon’s helm. The Lebanese presidency is largely a ceremonial role; however, only the president can appoint or remove a prime minister and cabinet.
In the first round of voting on Thursday, Aoun received just 71 out of 128 votes—15 short of the two-thirds majority needed—after members of the pro-Hezbollah bloc cast blank ballots in protest. However, Aoun managed to secure 99 votes during the second round, making him the country’s fifth former army commander to ascend to the presidency. This was despite the fact that Lebanon’s constitution prohibits high-ranking public servants, including military commanders, from holding the role during or within two years of active service; Aoun effectively stepped down from his role in the military upon being declared the presidential winner.
Aoun was the international favorite for the role, with widespread support from the United States and Saudi Arabia. Former Lebanese Interior Minister Suleiman Frangieh, backed by Hezbollah, withdrew from the race on Wednesday to back Aoun, and Elias al-Baysari, the acting head of Lebanon’s General Security agency, pulled out on Thursday. Aoun also defeated former Finance Minister Jihad Azour, now a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), for the position.
Aoun’s election marks “a long-awaited first step towards overcoming Lebanon’s political and institutional vacuum,” Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, the United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon, said in a press release on Thursday. However, the challenges ahead of the new administration remain steep.
In his acceptance speech, Aoun focused on how to build up the country and military and made a rare promise to “monopolize weapons” under the state’s mandate, alluding to Hezbollah’s extensive weapons arsenal. “My era will include the discussion of our defensive strategy to enable the Lebanese state to get rid of the Israeli occupation and to retaliate against its aggression,” Aoun said. The president must now oversee the terms of a Nov. 27, 2024, cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah that includes the militant group withdrawing from the border region.
Aoun must also seek international aid for reconstruction efforts following the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, which resulted in damages and economic losses totaling around $8.5 billion, according to the World Bank; name a new prime minister and cabinet; and tackle a yearslong financial crisis that collapsed the country’s currency. Among his other key areas of focus will be improving Lebanon’s energy infrastructure, which only provides a few hours of electricity a day; combating government corruption in state institutions; and fulfilling the requirements needed to receive an IMF bailout package first agreed to in 2022.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Blazes in LA. Deadly wildfires continued to decimate neighborhoods across Los Angeles County on Thursday, with some of the largest blazes still not under control. Roughly 179,000 people remain under evacuation orders, and at least five people have been killed, though local officials say the death toll is likely higher. Authorities reported on Thursday that at least five major fires have scorched around 45 square miles, burned thousands of homes, and threatened more than 60,000 other structures.
Strong winds of up to 100 miles per hour on Tuesday, when the wildfires ignited, have hindered firefighting efforts. And much of the county remains under a red flag warning until late Friday. “This is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said. “But we are all hands on deck.”
“Climate change, including increased heat, extended drought, and a thirsty atmosphere, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in the western United States,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, though what exactly sparked this week’s disaster is still under investigation. Droughts in California have worsened to such an extent that scientists on Wednesday said wildfire season in the state now lasts all year.
Attack in the capital. Several armed assailants targeted Chad’s presidential palace late Wednesday while President Mahamat Déby Itno was still inside. At least 19 people were killed in the assault, including 18 perpetrators and one Chadian soldier. “The situation is completely under control. There is no fear,” Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said in a live Facebook broadcast on Wednesday while inside what appeared to be the presidential palace.
Following a volley of gunshots in the area, three vehicles filled with assailants attacked the presidential palace in the capital city of N’Djamena. Koulamallah described the individuals as intoxicated and disorganized, and he said the incident was likely not an act of terrorism. However, security forces have called the attack an effort to destabilize the government.
The attack occurred just hours after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Déby to congratulate him on reestablishing constitutional order. Last month, Chad held parliamentary elections for the first time in more than a decade. In the presidential election in May, Déby—who took control of Chad in a military coup in 2021 after his father, then serving as president, was killed—won more than 60 percent of the vote. However, opposition groups argue that fraud marred the election, and many citizens criticize the continuation of the long-held Déby dynasty.
End of exile. Mozambican opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane returned to the capital city of Maputo on Thursday, ending his self-imposed exile following the country’s Oct. 9, 2024, general election. Security forces fired live ammunition and tear gas on Mondlane’s supporters to try to prevent them from reaching Maputo International Airport to greet him.
Mondlane, who lost the presidential vote, has accused the government of rigging the election, and he has called on his supporters to protest the ruling Frelimo party, which has been in power since Mozambique gained its independence in 1975. More than 270 people have been killed in anti-government protests since last October, according to Plataforma Decide, a civil society monitoring group.
Mondlane left Mozambique last year after two senior opposition members were shot and killed in their car by unknown gunmen. His return comes less than one week before President-elect Daniel Chapo, Frelimo’s candidate in the election, is to be inaugurated, despite international election monitors reporting irregularities in the October vote. Mozambique’s constitutional court upheld Chapo’s and Frelimo’s victories last month.
Odds and Ends
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, what can 82,000 apples accomplish? Poland is about to find out, as the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has ordered that number of the juicy fruits to celebrate Warsaw assuming the six-month presidency of the European Union Council on Jan. 1. Officials plan to give out apples, designated as the official fruit for Poland’s term, at meetings linked to the presidency. Poland is the EU’s largest apple producer and yields around 4 million metric tons of apples each year.
The post Lebanon Elects a New President—Finally appeared first on Foreign Policy.
