Paris (AFP)
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for "acting quickly and efficiently" so that aid "goes very directly" to the Lebanese population, by opening an international video conference of support on Sunday five days after the gigantic explosion in Beirut.
The head of state also called on the Lebanese authorities to "act so that the country does not sink and to respond to the aspirations that the Lebanese people are rightfully expressing right now in the streets of Beirut. We must all do everything together. so that neither violence nor chaos can prevail ".
"However, today, those who have an interest in this division and chaos, it is the powers that would somehow want to harm the Lebanese people", he added without naming names.
Emmanuel Macron introduced, from his summer residence in Brégançon in Borme-les-Mimosas (Var), this videoconference co-organized in a few days by the UN and France, which brings together about fifteen leaders, including the American Donald Trump , to be "alongside Beirut and the Lebanese people" who "mourn their dead, express their anger and want to raise their heads" after the explosion which damaged part of the Lebanese capital on Tuesday.
"At this very moment, (...) it is the future of Lebanon that is at stake", he said, calling again for "an impartial, credible, independent investigation into the causes of the disaster of August 4 ".
The latter "sounded like a thunderclap. The time for awakening and action has come. The Lebanese authorities must now put in place the political and economic reforms demanded by the Lebanese people and which alone will enable the international community to succeed. 'to act effectively alongside Lebanon for reconstruction,' he added.
The French president insisted on the need for "unity" of the international community despite "the geopolitical conditions" around Lebanon. He said he expected Turkey, which "could not join the videoconference", and Russia to provide support, as well as Israel, which "has expressed interest in providing assistance. ".
© 2020 AFP