The summit, initiated by Emmanuel Macron, opened on Thursday with France announcing a 100 million aid package for the country. Seventy countries and 15 international organizations are participating in the event.
Article written by franceinfo with AFP
France Televisions
A crucial summit to help Lebanon. An international conference for the country opened on Thursday, October 24 in Paris. This French initiative should help advance several burning issues, such as aid for displaced people and negotiations for a ceasefire. The needs have been colossal since Israel launched a ground offensive in the south of the country at the end of September, which has already left at least 1,552 dead and more than 800,000 displaced. "Lebanon is in danger of death and dislocation," Jean-Yves Le Drian, Emmanuel Macron's personal envoy to Beirut, told AFP. Franceinfo answers four questions about this conference.
What is the aim of this conference?
The international conference on Lebanon should mark a step forward on the diplomatic front. "The objective is first to reaffirm the need for a ceasefire, a diplomatic resolution and an end to hostilities, to mobilize humanitarian aid from as many countries as possible and to support Lebanese institutions, first and foremost the Lebanese armed forces," explained French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot on RTL on Wednesday.
Concretely, the priority will already be to respond to the UN appeal for funds, launched on October 1, for aid of more than 400 million dollars (370 million euros) for displaced persons. The objective of the conference is even to raise some 500 million euros. French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday morning that France would release 100 million euros for Lebanon.
The meeting should also help advance negotiations to end the war. "The war must end as soon as possible," Emmanuel Macron added on Thursday, specifying that the objective is to "affirm Lebanon's sovereignty" and "demonstrate that the worst is not written and allow the Lebanese to regain control of their destiny."
Paris and Washington have already initiated last month, during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a proposal for a temporary ceasefire for Lebanon. France wants to enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which had ended the previous war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. It establishes that only the Blue Helmets and the Lebanese army should be deployed in the south of Lebanon bordering Israel.
This resolution "enables us to guarantee, on the one hand, the sovereignty and unity of Lebanon and, on the other, to give security guarantees to Israel so that the 60,000 people who had to leave their homes after October 7 in northern Israel can return there," assured Jean-Noël Barrot on RTL. "Today, it is the diplomatic solution that must prevail," insisted the minister.
Who should participate?
The conference "will see the participation of 70 countries and 15 international organizations," recalled Jean-Noël Barrot. "All those we invited have responded," he said. However, the minister did not specify the level of representation of these countries. Will they be heads of state, ministers, or diplomats? On the United States side, neither President Joe Biden nor Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is traveling to the Middle East, will be in Paris.
The Prime Minister is present at the conference. He was received on Wednesday at the Elysée. Najib Mikati also thanked Emmanuel Macron, in a statement, "for his constant support for Lebanon" and for the "efforts" made by France towards a ceasefire. He is accompanied by the head of Lebanese diplomacy, Abdallah Bou Habib.
Why is it organized in Paris?
The organization of this conference is an initiative of Emmanuel Macron. The relationship between Paris and Beirut is special. Formerly a mandatory power, France has some 23,000 nationals in Lebanon, several thousand of whom have recently fled the country because of the war. The Lebanese diaspora is also strongly established in France.
Since the end of President Michel Aoun's term in office at the end of October 2022, the French president has been trying to play a facilitating role in Lebanon in order to find a successor, while the country is also facing an unprecedented economic crisis. Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly called on "Lebanese officials to take responsibility" so that they can resolve "the presidential equation, the governmental equation", the Elysée Palace stressed on Wednesday. In less than a year and a half, his personal envoy to Lebanon, former Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, has visited Beirut six times to try to convince the various influential parties. Without success.
What is the situation in Lebanon?
Heavy bombardments continue to hit Lebanon. The southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hezbollah, were targeted Wednesday evening by 17 Israeli strikes that destroyed several buildings and caused a huge explosion. According to the Lebanese news agency Ani, these are the most significant bombardments in this area since the start of the war between Israel and the pro-Iranian Islamist movement a month ago.
For its part, Hezbollah said on Wednesday it had fired rockets at a military base and a military industrial site near Tel Aviv, the major city in the center of the country, and targeted two other military bases near Haifa, in the north. At least 1,552 people have been killed in Lebanon since the start of the Israeli airstrike campaign on September 23, according to an AFP count based on official data. The UN has also counted some 800,000 displaced.
France and its President called for a conference to help and save Lebanon from an expanding war waged by Israel, not against Hizballah as they claim, but against Lebanon as a country, more so against its southern parts, population and wealth. It clearly wants its lands its waters and eventually aggrandize Israel with more settlers in its conquered new territories. Lebanon always represented by definition; the anti model to the Israeli model of existence, with its multi ethnic amalgam and cohesion, its peace and its prosperity, for many decades now Israel tried to destroy this model of integration and equality that they couldn't achieve themselves, they are still trying.
All my thanks to all.
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