French President Emmanuel Macron has called for quick action to help Lebanon as he opened an international aid summit five days after the devastating explosion in Beirut.
Help needed to reach the Lebanese people efficiently, he said.
US President Donald Trump is among those due to join the online meeting.
Officials estimate the blast at a warehouse, which stored more than 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, caused up to $15 billion (£11.5bn) in damage.
The explosion left at least 158 people dead, 6,000 injured and 300,000 homeless. It emerged that the ammonium nitrate had been left at the warehouse for six years despite repeated warnings it was dangerous.
The disaster has stoked anger at what many see as the incompetence and corruption of the government amid an economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.
On Saturday several thousand people took to the streets, with police firing tear gas at stone-throwing protesters and some demonstrators storming government ministries.
Lebanese PM Hassan Diab, whose government includes representatives of Lebanon’s different sectarian groups, said on Saturday that he would ask for early elections as a way out of the crisis.
Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad has become the first minister to resign in the wake of the blast. She cited the failure of the government to carry out reforms and the “Beirut catastrophe” as her reasons for leaving.
Source: bbc.com
The post Beirut explosion: Aid summit opens with Macron call for quick action appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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