Lebanon aid summit raises $300m to be given ‘directly’ to people

Addis Ababa, August 10, 2020 (FBC) -A host of nations have pledged nearly $300m in humanitarian assistance to Lebanon at a conference aimed at rallying international support for the crisis-hit country days after a debilitating explosion in the capital, Beirut.

In a joint statement after Sunday’s virtual event, the donor countries said the financial aid will be “directly delivered to the Lebanese population” and offered support for an “impartial, credible and independent inquiry” into Tuesday’s disaster that killed more than 150 people and wounded some 6,000.

The office of French President Emmanuel Macron, who led the conference, said the meeting raised pledges worth almost $298m.

France has organised four donor conferences for Lebanon in the last 20 years where more than $20bn was pledged, mostly conditional on reforms that were not implemented.

Some 36 countries and international institutions participated in Sunday’s online conference, which was held under the auspices of the United Nations and whose attendees included US President Donald Trump, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.