UN food chief fears Beirut could run out of bread in about three weeks
The head of the UN food agency said he was concerned Lebanon could run out of bread in about two-and-a-half weeks.
David Beasley said 85 per cent of the country’s grain was shipped through Beirut’s port, which was destroyed by an explosion last week.
But he believed that an area there could be made operational this month.
Mr Beasley, who is in Beirut to assess damage and recovery prospects, told a UN briefing on the humanitarian situation in the Lebanese capital that “at the devastated site, we found a footprint that we can operate on a temporary basis”.
“Working with the Lebanese army, we believe that we can clear part of that site,” Mr Beasley said on Monday.
“We’ll be airlifting in a lot of equipment, doing everything we can.”
He said he met Cabinet ministers – who all resigned later on Monday – and told them the UN needed “absolute cooperation now, no obstacles” because people on the streets were angry.
He said they needed international help, but “please make certain that the aid comes directly to the people”.
On Monday, for the first time since last week’s blast, two ships docked at Beirut, including one that carried grain, state media said.
The head of the workers’ union at the port, Bechara Asmar, told Al Jadeed TV that because the grain silos were destroyed, the shipment would be loaded directly on to lorries or into bags straight after being sanitised.
“This is a glimmer of hope,” Mr Asmar said about the first arrivals. The port’s fifth basin, where the ships docked, was intact, he said.
Mr Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme, said a ship with 17,500 tonnes of wheat flour should arrive in Beirut “within two weeks, and that’s to put bread on the table of all the people of Lebanon and that will give us a bread supply for 20 days”.
“While we’re doing that, we’ve got a 30-day supply of about 30,000 tonnes of wheat that we’re bringing in, and then another 100,000 tonnes over the next 60 days after that,” he said.
Najat Rochdi, the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Lebanon, said that Mr Beasley went to the port with engineers to assess what had to be done there.
“They are very optimistic to start this rehabilitation as soon as this week to increase the capacity of the port,” she said.
Ms Rochdi said she understood that a ship would arrive tomorrow with construction materials, followed by a ship with wheat and grain.
UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told diplomats the “swift and wide-ranging” humanitarian response to the disaster was the first of a threephase plan.
“The second – recovery and reconstruction – will cost billions of dollars and require a mix of public and private finance,” he said.
“The third element is responding to Lebanon’s preexisting socioeconomic crisis which is already exacerbated by Covid-19.”
Mr Lowcock, UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief co-ordinator, stressed that the explosion that rocked Beirut “will have repercussions far beyond those we see in front of us now”.
He urged donors, international financial institutions and the wider international community to “come together and put their shoulder to the wheel” and said the Lebanese people would be best served by a collective response.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told member nations the voices of Lebanon’s people “must be heard”.
“It is important that a credible and transparent investigation determine the cause of the explosion and bring about the accountability demanded by the Lebanese people,” he said.
“It is also important that reforms be implemented so as to address the needs of the Lebanese people for the longer term.”
Mr Guterres also pledged that “the United Nations will stand with Lebanon to help alleviate the immediate suffering and support its recovery”.