Sisi: Egypt affirms urgent need to end governmental vacuum in Lebanon

CAIRO – 5 August 2021: Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi affirmed on Wednesday the need to end the governmental vacuum in Lebanon to avoid “the danger that Lebanon slides into a dark and unprofitable tunnel,” a presidential statement read.

Sisi’s remarks came as he took part via video in the international conference to raise funds to support Lebanon's humanitarian needs, co-hosted by France and the United Nations.

Sisi said the current situation cannot continue and that the Lebanese people, who deserves a government that is capable to commit to people’s aspirations, will bear the implications of the ongoing situation.

“This requires those who have the solution … to rise to the level of responsibility entrusted to them by the Lebanese, put the country’s supreme interests above all else, and get out of narrow sectarian considerations to the scope of national identity,” Sisi added.

Sisi said the economic crisis in Lebanon is closely related to the political crisis that has been going on since 2019, adding that this crisis is getting more and more complicated.

Sisi said Egypt, since the Beirut blast last year, has been keen to secure strategic goods and support to the Lebanese infrastructure in order to rehabilitate the buildings afflicted by the explosion.

The Egyptian air and sea bridges to Lebanon continue to transfer construction materials, relief and food to the country, Sisi said, the lat of which was the arrival of an Egyptian warship to Beirut last month while loaded with over 300 tons of needs to the Lebanese side.

“This support is complementary to the efforts of the Egyptian field hospital in Beirut, which provides daily medical services to the Lebanese,” Sisi said.

He added that also quantities of drugs and medicines have been provided to treat coronavirus in the context of helping Lebanon face the consequences of this global pandemic.

 

Sisi said Lebanon is still capable of rising from the current setback and returning as prosperous and unique as we like to see, according to presidential spokesman Bassam Radi.

Sisi addressed the Lebanese people during the virtual conference, saying the country has been a beacon of culture, art and thought and a prominent tributary of Arab ingenuity.

“Lebanon, which has always been a beacon of culture, art and thought and important tributary of Arab ingenuity, is still able with the determination of its sons to rise from the current setback and return again to be prosperous and unique as we like to see it,” Radi quoted the president as saying.

“Egypt's hands are extended to the international community to unite and harness all the capabilities to support Lebanon and build a better future for its people,” Sisi added.

The international conference on Lebanon seeks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to support the Lebanese humanitarian needs estimated by the UN to be at least $375 million, a French official told the Associated Press.

The UN says more than half of the Lebanese people now live in poverty and one in three Lebanese suffer from food insecurity a year after a massive blast at Beirut’s port destroyed property damage worth $15 billion.

In his opening remarks, French President Emmanuel Macron said his country will provide 100 million euros during the upcoming months to Lebanon.

Sisi, US President Joe Bidem, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, King Abdullah II of Jordan and European Council President Charles Michel are among the attendees.