BEIRUT — UN Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres arrived in Beirut on Sunday on a "solidarity" trip to Lebanon as the
country remains in the throes of a crippling financial crisis.
اضافة اعلان
"If there is a word to characterize my
visit, that word is solidarity," Guterres said in a statement upon
arrival.
He had previously called on Lebanese
officials to unite to find solutions to the country's dire economic crisis,
dubbed by the World Bank as among the planet's worst since the 1850s.
"The divisions among political leaders
in Lebanon have paralyzed the institutions," Guterres told reporters
Thursday at the UN headquarters in New York.
This makes it impossible "to reach
agreement with
IMF... to launch effective economic programs, and to create the
conditions for the country to initiate the recovery," he added.
Lebanese leaders do not have "the right
to be divided in a moment of such dramatic crisis".
Around 80 percent of Lebanon's population is
estimated to be living under the poverty line.
Cabinet has failed to meet since mid-October
due to infighting, in particular over the judge charged with investigating the
catastrophic August 2020 explosion at Beirut's port that killed at least 215
people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of the capital.
Guterres is set to visit the blast site on
Monday, holding a minute's silence for the victims.
He is scheduled to meet with President
Michel Aoun on Sunday, as well as with other high-level officials, religious
leaders and representatives of civil society organizations before his departure
on Wednesday.
He will also visit the impoverished northern
city of Tripoli and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (
UNIFIL) in the country's
south.
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