Paris (AFP)

From the United States to France via China, Russia and Egypt, international donors are meeting Sunday for a videoconference in support of Lebanon, ravaged by a gigantic explosion and the economic crisis.

The online conference, organized at the initiative of France and the UN, begins Sunday at 2 p.m. (12 p.m. GMT). It should mark the start of an "emergency and hope for the future" of the country, the French presidency said on Saturday.

The first leader to visit the Lebanese capital after the deadly explosion, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday promised Beirut rapid and massive aid from the international community.

The huge explosion Tuesday, in a warehouse in the port of the Lebanese capital, left at least 158 ​​dead, 6,000 injured, dozens of missing and hundreds of thousands of homeless.

- "Everyone wants to help" -

"Everyone wants to help!" he added, mentioning that he spoke with the French president.

Israel will not be "in the round table" of this conference, it was specified at the Elysee, but a contact is "made by the UN".

For its part, Iran has "not expressed its willingness to participate", but "the Gulf countries - Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia - have been invited," added the Elysee, specifying no have "no doubt that they will be represented".

The European institutions will also participate in this conference to mobilize emergency humanitarian aid.

If the UN has estimated at 85 million dollars the needs of Lebanon for the health sector alone, the entourage of the French president did not want to give the amount of aid that could be released on Sunday.

"The immediate objective is to provide for the emergency needs of Lebanon, on conditions which allow aid to go directly to the population," explained the Elysee. The priorities are "the consolidation of damaged buildings, emergency medical aid, food aid and the restoration of hospitals and schools".

"The methodology is the one that international organizations use, there is a need that we do not write a blank check to the Lebanese government," continued the same source.

- Disaster too many -

The devastation caused by the explosion, apparently caused by the storage of thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate in a depot in the port of Beirut, is one catastrophe too many for the Lebanese.

Lebanon has been plunged for months into a very serious economic crisis, marked by an unprecedented depreciation of its currency, hyperinflation, massive layoffs and drastic banking restrictions.

On Saturday, thousands of protesters marched through downtown Beirut. Led by retired officers, demonstrators stormed the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, proclaiming it "headquarters of the Revolution".

For the French presidency, the demonstrations "testify to the exasperation, the distress of the population, the need for things to change".

"Lebanon is sinking, we think it has hit rock bottom, and therefore it is time to come back to the surface," commented again the entourage of Emmanuel Macron, recalling that the French president has promised during his visit on Thursday that the aid would not go to "corruption".

Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Friday rejected any international investigation into the gigantic explosion, saying it could have been caused by negligence or by a missile.

Paris, on the other hand, considered that there was "enough objective evidence to believe that the explosion was accidental".

While in the Lebanese capital, rescuers were still working to find survivors, international aid continues to flow. As soon as the explosion was announced, several countries, first and foremost France, sent relief personnel and material aid.

Egypt and Qatar will open field hospitals and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The latest initiatives to date, the Canadian government announced on Saturday the launch of a relief fund for Lebanon and called on Canadians to be generous. France has set up an air and sea bridge to transport more than 18 tonnes of medical aid and nearly 700 tonnes of food aid. A cargo plane left on Saturday, two more were en route on Sunday.

© 2020 AFP