Maas sets conditions for aid to Lebanon in Beirut

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Heiko Maas in Beirut with members of a rescue team

Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has confirmed that Germany wants to help rebuild the Lebanese capital after the disaster in Beirut. The level of devastation and destruction there was "almost unimaginable," he said during a visit to Beirut. On the occasion of his visit, he had already handed over four million of the promised German emergency aid to the Lebanese Red Cross and the UN coordination office in Lebanon. The SPD politician emphasized that the money must arrive "where it is needed".

But Maas made conditions for support. The country needs a government that "seriously fights corruption". The foreign minister wants to link further reconstruction aid for Lebanon to reforms. In the Lebanese population there is "little trust in the political system," said Maas when visiting the port of Beirut, which was destroyed by the disaster of the explosion. The "task of the future" for Lebanon will be to win back the trust of the citizens. "To do this, the country's elite must rethink."

At a donor conference for Lebanon at the weekend, the German government promised an initial aid tranche of 20 million euros. Germany may be ready to provide further support, said the SPD politician. "But that only makes sense if reforms and the fight against corruption are finally implemented, if words are followed by deeds."

In response to the devastating double explosion with more than 170 dead, thousands injured and subsequent days of protests, Prime Minister Hasan Diab's government announced its resignation on Monday. Many Lebanese blame political failure and rampant corruption for the disaster. According to government information, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded on Tuesday last week, which had been stored unsecured in the city's port for years.

as / AFP