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The international community joins forces to help Lebanon

2020-08-09T14:08:02.448Z


France and the United Nations promote a teleconference of leaders to organize the immediate and long-term response after the explosion in Beirut


Lebanon cannot wait and the international community seems to have understood the desperation of its people. At the request of French President Emmanuel Macron and the United Nations, almost thirty leaders and senior officials from around the world and from the main international institutions are holding a teleconference this Sunday to organize the most immediate aid after Tuesday's devastating explosion in Beirut, but also another long-term one that allows the country to emerge from the chronic crisis in which it finds itself.

The objective is to be able to satisfy "the urgent needs of Lebanon in conditions that allow the aid to reach the population directly," said sources from the Elysee. Since passing through Beirut this week, Macron has made it clear to the Lebanese authorities that one of the key requirements of the international response will be "transparency" and that there be no "detours", alluding to the heavy corruption that plagues the country Mediterranean.

In an area marked by geopolitical interests, the map of the countries that have stepped forward to offer help can be revealing.

In the virtual meeting, led by Macron from his summer residence in Brégançon and by the UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, the American Donald Trump will participate, who on Saturday tweeted his attendance and assured that "everyone wants to help." Bringing a Washington that had disengaged from Lebanon to this table is seen as a significant advance by French diplomacy. There will also be the Lebanese president, Michel Aoun; the Egyptian, Abdelfatá al Sisi; the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani; King Abdullah II of Jordan or the Prime Minister of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Khaled Al Hamd Al Sabah. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be represented by senior officials; Israel, on the other hand, will not be "sitting at the table" but the UN is "in contact" with the Hebrew country, according to Elysee sources. For its part, Iran, an ally of the Hezbollah militia, "has not expressed its willingness to participate," they added.

The European presence is vigorous: there will be, among others, the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez; the Italian Giuseppe Conte; the Cypriot Nikos Anastasiadis; the Prime Ministers of Denmark, Mette Frederisen; Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis; or Sweden, Stefan Lofven, as well as the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the second European to visit Beirut after Macron's whirlwind trip on Thursday. Initially, the attendance of the British Boris Johnson was expected, but in the end, the United Kingdom's Secretary of State for International Development, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, will participate. Also absent is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will be represented by her Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas. Of Russia, which was initially counted on, nothing has been said again. Other large countries, such as China and Japan, will be represented this Sunday by senior officials.

The meeting, which will also be attended by the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro, will also be attended by the executive director of the International Monetary Fund, Katalina Georgieva; the director general of operations of the World Bank, Axel Van Trotsenburg; the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, and the President of the European Investment Bank, Werner Hoyer.

At the moment it is not clear if concrete amounts will be set at the conference. Although the UN has estimated Lebanon's most urgent needs in the health sector at at least $ 85 million, the French Government has not wanted to advance more figures, hiding the fact that all the material and personal damages have not yet been quantified.

What has been advanced are the priorities - the consolidation of damaged buildings, emergency medical aid, food aid and the restoration of hospitals and schools - and, also, the methodology, which will be "the one used by international organizations" that They participate in the meeting and will coordinate the aid on the spot. Above all, France insists time and time again, it is about not leaving work in the hands of a Lebanese government that is calling more than ever for a "profound change" and reforms, as Macron recalled during his stay in Beirut and demanded the yesterday Lebanese citizens who participated in another massive protest. "You do not have to hand over a blank check to the Lebanese government," Paris emphasizes.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-08-09

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