Faced with a general power cut for several days, Lebanon saw its electricity network be partially put back into service, Sunday, October 10, after the army intervened to supply diesel while the country is facing fuel shortages.
"The army handed over […] 6,000 kiloliters of diesel, divided equally between the Deir Ammar and Zahrani power stations," allowing a few hours of electricity per day, the Lebanese Ministry of Energy said in a statement. .
Stuck in an unprecedented crisis, described by the World Bank as one of the worst in the history of the world since 1850, Lebanon has been experiencing draconian power rationing for months, peaking at more than twenty-two hours a day, and barely to import fuel, against the backdrop of a historic plunge in the national currency and a drying up of foreign currencies.
On Saturday, the country plunged for the second time since early October into a total blackout after the shutdown of the activity of two major power plants for lack of fuel, according to the national company Electricity of Lebanon (EDL).
The cuts have paralyzed the lives of the population and several vital sectors for months, while the managers of private generators, who generally take over, are also rationing businesses, hospitals and homes, as fuel becomes scarce.
The country, whose ruling class is accused of corruption and incompetence, has suffered for decades from endemic electricity underproduction and mismanagement of EDL that has cost the treasury billions of dollars since the end of the civil war (1975-1990).
The international community is calling for urgent reforms from the Lebanese authorities, in particular for the EDL, a symbol of bad governance and the decay of public services in Lebanon.
With AFP
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