Chirac says Lebanon protests could deter donors
Source: Reuters
(Adds detail, quotes, background) PARIS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac said on Tuesday anti-government protests in Lebanon could discourage the international community from granting financial aid to Beirut at a donors' conference scheduled for Thursday. Chirac said in an interview with France 24 television and Lebanese television that Lebanon's financial situation was "very serious, very grave", adding: "Practically, the Lebanese government has no more money." Protesters bent on toppling Lebanon's cabinet blocked highways and roads with blazing tyres on Tuesday, sparking clashes with government loyalists in which three people were killed and 133 people hurt, police said. "All the protest initiatives give a poor image of Lebanon, discouraging the international community from helping Lebanon. In the end, it is the poor Lebanese who pay the price for all this," Chirac said. Donor countries are expected to pledge money, possibly in the billions of dollars, for Lebanon's debt-laden economy at Thursday's conference in Paris. The violence raised the stakes in a campaign by Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its Shi'ite and Christian allies to oust Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's Western-backed government. Chirac urged all sides to get around the negotiating table and resolve their problems through "the necessary compromises". French officials said around 50 countries and organisations would take part in the donors' meeting. They declined to say how much money they expected to be pledged but said France would make a "very substantial contribution". A French official who declined to be named added France hoped Thursday's conference would raise as much as, if not more than, the so-called Paris II conference in 2002, which raised 4.2 billion euros ($5.47 billion) for Lebanon. French officials said some of the aid pledged on Thursday would be for short-term relief to shore up the state's finances. Other money would be used to help pay down Lebanon's crippling $41 billion of public debt. But they stressed that some of the aid would undoubtedly be made conditional on Lebanon passing vital economic reforms. Syria was not invited to the conference, and Chirac said Damascus was not trustworthy. "I have the greatest respect for the Syrian people ... but on the other hand, experience has taught me that the current Syrian leaders, who are leaders representing a minority of Syrians, are difficult to believe," he said. He said he had thought of engaging Iran over the problems in Lebanon but Paris had not in the end formally contacted Tehran. "For the moment, it is a suspended issue that relates only to Lebanon and not to other things," he said.
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