Lebanon: in which Beirut is Emmanuel Macron returning?
Audio 01:13
Emmanuel Macron goes this Tuesday, September 1 to the port of Beirut, a month after his previous visit, on August 6 (photo), two days after the disaster.
Thibault Camus / Pool via REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
6 min
Emmanuel Macron arrived in Lebanon on Monday evening, a few hours after the appointment of a new Prime Minister.
This is the second visit of Emmanuel Macron to Beirut since the explosion of August 4 in the port of the city and the reconstruction will be long in the most affected neighborhoods of the Lebanese capital.
Publicity
Read more
With our special envoys in Beirut,
Nicolas Falez and Nicolas Benita
The district of Gemayze will keep for a long time its gaping wounds, its gutted facades, its blown roofs and the carcasses of cars on the side.
In this setting, a bar and its terrace are an anomaly.
Simon is the manager of the establishment, he shows us the photo of a young woman on the facade.
“
She was standing next to me when the explosion took place,” he
says
.
We found her here.
She was so young, she didn't deserve this.
It's very hard to forget something like this.
But sooner or later we will feel better.
"
Her name was Rawan, she was 20 years old.
Other bar workers were injured.
Some are still shocked.
Among all the staff present on the day of the explosion, Simon is the only one to have returned to work with new team members.
“
We are open again,
” he said, “
we must bring life back to this district of Beirut.
No one lives here anymore.
People are trying to fix their houses.
Here, Gemmayze is the best place in Beirut.
"
Night falls on Gemmayze.
The first customers arrive, sit on the terrace and order.
An almost normal cafe in a ruined landscape.
►
See also: Lebanon in search of truth and justice after the explosion in Beirut
Macron back in the port of Beirut
The port of Beirut is a huge site on which Emmanuel Macron will be visiting this Tuesday morning, September 1.
Almost a month after the explosion, the French head of state
returns
to see the progress of the work which is being carried out jointly by the Lebanese army and the French army.
There's the clearance, and that's the phase we're in right now, and then there's the reclamation which will be the subsequent phase.
[...] It is a very complex job as you can see.
We have the sheds destroyed and we have the sorting of goods.
The Lebanese and French armies at work in the port
Valerie Gas
►
To read also: Moustapha Adib, new Prime Minister of Lebanon, facing a titanic task
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
France
Emmanuel Macron
Lebanon
On the same subject
The debate of the day
How can Lebanon reform itself and get out of the crisis?
Portrait
Moustapha Adib, new Prime Minister of Lebanon, faces a titanic task
Lebanon in search of truth and justice after the explosion in Beirut