dpa
Beirut
Lebanon’s caretaker premier Nagib Mikati and his cabinet on Monday reversed a decision on moving the start of daylight savings time, which has caused confusion and divided the multi-faith country.
On Thursday, the Lebanese government announced postponing the start of the summertime system, which was originally scheduled for early Sunday, until midnight on April 20, when the lunar month of Ramadan is expected to end.
The decision has triggered harsh criticism against Mikati’s cabinet and uproar bordering on sectarianism. In a televised address, Mikati announced that clocks will now go forward at midnight Wednesday-Thursday.
“We had to take a period of 48 hours to deal with some technical matters according to the previous memorandum, so we gave ourselves time for readjustment,” he said.
Keeping winter time in place for longer means breaking the daily Muslim Ramadan fast an hour earlier. But the caretaker premier stressed that he was surprised how some parties in the country considered the decision to have sectarian and religious dimensions.
Lebanon’s influential Maronite Church criticized the original decision, calling it “surprising” and “haphazard” while stating it would not abide by it.“It was taken without any consideration for international standards and caused confusion,” the church said in a statement.
