French President Emmanuel Macron will seek to raise more than US$350 million in aid for Lebanon at a donor conference commemorating the anniversary of the bombing of Beirut port on Wednesday (August 4), and quarrel with it. The class issued another warning.
One year after the explosion in the capital’s port and further plunged Lebanon into an economic crisis, despite pressure from France and the international community, its politicians have yet to form a government capable of rebuilding the country.
“As the situation continues to deteriorate, the need for the government has become more and more urgent,” an adviser to Macron told reporters.
France has led international efforts to get its former colonies out of crisis. Since the port explosion, Macron has visited Beirut twice, offered emergency assistance and imposed a travel ban on some senior Lebanese officials to seek reforms.
He also persuaded the EU to agree on a sanctions framework to be used.
But his initiatives, including obtaining the promise of Lebanese politicians to establish a non-denominational government composed of technocrats, have so far been in vain.
Macron’s office stated that US President Joe Biden will join about 40 other world leaders, including Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Canada, to participate in a conference co-sponsored by the United Nations. Britain will be represented by its foreign minister.
The meeting after the bombing last year raised about 280 million U.S. dollars to provide emergency assistance away from what Macron called the “corrupt hands” of politicians at the time, and was provided through non-governmental organizations and aid groups.
Macron’s office stated that the new humanitarian assistance will be unconditional, but the approximately US$11 billion in long-term funding raised in 2018 is still locked in and depends on a series of reforms implemented by the political authorities.
