Lebanon woke up this morning in two time zones, according to Reuters news agency. Many mobile phones, digital watches and computers will have automatically switched to summer time tonight, while the government is officially sticking to winter time.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced on Thursday that the clocks in the country would not be set forward an hour this weekend, but only on April 20. Normally Lebanon keeps the same timing as Europe.
Flight times postponed
An official reason was not given by the prime minister, but it is widely regarded as an attempt to placate the country’s Muslims. For example, Muslims who participate in the fasting month of Ramadan can eat again around 6 p.m., instead of at 7 p.m.
The confusion has major consequences for residents and businesses. For example, the national carrier Middle East Airlines has reported that it will continue to use winter time for the time being, but that all departing flights will take off an hour earlier, in order to stay in line with the worldwide flight schedule. Many companies send messages to employees about the right times. Schools do that too.
Not everyone follows Prime Minister Mikati’s line. Several major television stations will switch to summer time, because a large part of their audience lives abroad. One of the stations said: “Lebanon is not an island.”
Civil war
The influential Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic movement, has announced that it will not comply with the ‘surprising decision’. Because many Muslims go along with it, it is feared that tensions between religious groups will increase again. Reuters speaks of a ‘deepening of the distribution’ between population groups. Between 1975 and 1990, a civil war raged in Lebanon between Christian and Muslim militias.
