World powers are trying to secure humanitarian aid for the Lebanese people as the country continues to collapse economically amid a deadlock in the formation of a new government.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced that he was working with international partners to establish a financial mechanism that guarantees the continuation of main public services in the country.
“We are technically working with several partners in the international community so that at some point, (...) if the absence of a government persisted, we could succeed in preserving a system under international constraint, which would then allow the funding of essential services and support the Lebanese people,” Macron told a news conference last week.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Lebanese minister said that Paris was adopting a new approach to the Lebanese situation, in coordination with the European Union and through US support, to resolve certain social and economic problems “after realizing that it was unable to achieve a political breakthrough.”
According to the official, the international community will focus on two aspects.
“The first is aid, which will be provided through international institutions as loans from the World Bank that have already been approved. But their purpose will be changed to suit the developments taking place and fill social and humanitarian gaps,” said the official.
“The second is represented by the establishment of a fund for urgent aid, provided that the assistance goes directly to the relevant institutions such as schools, municipalities and hospitals” in an effort to help the poor.
The head of the Parliament’s Finance and Budget Committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, said after a meeting with a delegation from the World Bank earlier this week that World Bank projects worth one billion dollars have not been implemented. “We are discussing the reallocation of the funds to meet current needs.”
Professor of Politics and Planning at the American University of Beirut and supervisor of the Crisis Observatory Dr. Nasser Yassin told Asharq Al-Awsat that the international community was seeking to “launch an integrated humanitarian response program to target about one million Lebanese.”
Yassin had followed the recent discussions that took place at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva over the humanitarian situation in Lebanon.
“This program will focus on basic and humanitarian services from food security to health and education, with an initial funding of USD300 million over the next eight months,” he said.
