Emmanuel Macron returns to Beirut after the appointment of the new prime minister
Emmanuel Macron's second visit to Beirut since an explosion in the port of the Lebanese capital on August 4 caused not only 190 deaths, 6,500 injured and 300,000 homeless, but also a riot in the streets that forced the then Prime Minister Hassan Diab to resign.
Accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, and the Health Minister, Oliver Verán, Macron arrived in the Lebanese capital on Monday to celebrate the appointment of the new Lebanese Prime Minister, Mustapha Adib - who since 2013 has been Lebanese Ambassador to Germany - and to accelerate the process of forming a government.
"Lebanese, you are like brothers to the French," Macron wrote on his Twitter account, "I promised you: I will return to Beirut to look for emergency aid and to build with you the conditions for reconstruction and stability”.
The French president, the first foreign leader to come to the Middle East country after the port disaster, has set himself up as the international leader to support the reconstruction of the country and, although Macron himself has stated that this is the "multilateralism" that characterises French foreign policy, some have accused him of "colonialism" and "French interference in Lebanon's internal affairs".
Macron has not chosen a random date. This Tuesday, September 1, is the the first centenary of the declaration of a Greater Lebanon under French rule and he is due to revisit the neighbourhoods most affected by the deflagration, as he did on his first trip. According to the Elysée Palace, this visit will be the opportunity "to see the first results of all that has been done to help and support the Lebanese population in a month". Furthermore, according to sources from the Elysée Palace collected by Efe, this trip will serve as a condition for the formation of a " government of mission " capable of implementing " structural reforms that have been postponed until today ", and in this way France, together with other countries, will be able to provide international support " to respond to the emergency ".
On his arrival, the President of Lebanon, Michel Aoun, was waiting for Macron at Rafic Hariri International Airport in the Lebanese capital. Aoun, in a message to the Lebanese people, announced the lines to follow for the reconstruction of the country: "I call for Lebanon to be declared a secular state, for dialogue that includes all political and religious authorities to reach a formula acceptable to all".
After the meeting with the Lebanese president, Macron visited the Lebanese singer Fairuz- a figure very much loved in Lebanon- place where several people were demonstrating against the new government and French interference with cries of "Lebanon will remain free" and "Adib will not pass".
Adib, appointed by Lebanese politicians as the new prime minister, promised reforms and an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Lebanon's new strongman has achieved the consensus of almost all the political groups, including Saad Hariri's Sunni Muslim bloc Future Stream and Hassan Nasrallah's Shia Hezbollah. According to AFP, Hassan Nasrallah showed his intention to establish "a constructive dialogue" for the country.
The explosion only increased the economic, political and social problems that have accompanied the country for years. In the first estimates after the deflagration, Aoun and the interim government estimated the losses at $15 billion. This is the worst economic crisis since the end of the civil war (1975-1990), with the loss of the value of the Lebanese pound, the local currency. For its part, the World Bank (WB) on Monday estimated the damage at up to $4.6 billion. In a report by the international organisation, the explosion caused between $3.8 billion and $4.6 billion in damage to physical property, while it estimates between $2.9 billion and $3.5 billion in losses in the housing, transport and cultural sectors. The WB called both international aid and private investment "essential" to the recovery.