MACRON LAUNCHES GLOBAL EFFORT TO REBUILD BEIRUT
▶ French president plans fundraising conference but also says that, without reform, Lebanon will ‘continue to sink’
French President Emmanuel Macron announced an international fundraising conference for Lebanon during his visit to Beirut on Thursday in the wake of an enormous blast that devastated the city this week.
Mr Macron said that France will organise a conference with donors in Europe, America, the Middle East and elsewhere to raise money for food, medicine, housing and other urgent aid.
Arriving in Beirut on Thursday afternoon, he was met by Lebanese President Michel Aoun. He then visited the port where the explosion took place and toured a hard-hit neighbourhood lined with heavily damaged buildings.
“I am here also to propose a new political initiative because there is anger against the political system,” he told the crowd, which could be heard shouting for regime change and revolution.
“It’s what I will express this afternoon [to Lebanese politicians].
“We must today proceed with reforms to change the system, to stop the division of Lebanon, to fight against corruption, to have transparency and truth. This explosion is the consequence of negligence,” he said.
For many Lebanese, the enormous blast on Tuesday was the last straw after years of corruption and mismanagement by a political elite that has ruled for decades. At least 145 people were killed and more than 5,000 injured by the blast, which wrecked about half of the city, leaving an estimated 300,000 thousand homeless.
Hospitals already strained by the coronavirus struggled to accommodate the huge influx of casualties pouring in since.
The explosions, which occurred shortly after 6pm on Tuesday, are believed to have been caused by a stockpile of highly explosive ammonium nitrate that authorities left sitting in a warehouse for years – despite repeated warnings from customs officials at the port.
The head of Lebanon’s customs department confirmed in an interview with LBC TV on Wednesday that officials had sent five or six letters over the years to the judiciary, asking that the ammonium nitrate be removed because of the danger it posed.
While there have been widespread pledges of international aid to Lebanon, it is unclear how much support the international community will offer a government that is widely seen as corrupt.
Losses from the blast are estimated to be between $10 billion and $15bn (Dh36.7bn to Dh55.08bn), according to Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud, at a time when the country faces economic collapse with soaring prices and a currency in free fall.
Mr Macron offered to co-ordinate international funds and support for Lebanon, promising that French aid would be distributed transparently and “will not go into the hands of corruption”. France, which once governed Lebanon as a protectorate and maintains close ties with the country, will work to co-ordinate aid, Mr Macron said.
But he also issued a warning: “If reforms are not made, Lebanon will continue to sink.”