Germany plans Beirut port reconstruction with conditions: Report

Donors insist that Lebanon agrees on the makeup of new government, roots out corruption, sources tell Reuters.

Germany will next week present a multibillion-dollar proposal to Lebanese authorities to rebuild the Port of Beirut as part of efforts to entice the country’s politicians to form a government capable of warding off financial collapse, two sources told the Reuters news agency. A chemical explosion at the port last August killed about 200 people, injured thousands and destroyed entire neighbourhoods in Lebanon’s capital, plunging the country deeper into its worst political and economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. According to two diplomatic sources with knowledge of the plans, Germany and France are vying to lead reconstruction efforts. Berlin will on April 7 outline a proposal that the European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to help fund that would clear the area and reconstruct facilities, they said.