Olaf Koens is a correspondent for RTL News in the Middle East. He is today in the area where a large demonstration is expected to be held. We put the questions to him.
1. Freshen up first: what happened a year ago?
For that we first have to go further back in time. Eight years ago, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate arrived at the port of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. This raw material is used as fertilizer, but also for making bombs.
An 86-meter-long freighter sailed under the Moldovan flag and had the material on board. The ship was supposed to be on its way to Mozambique, but was rejected and was not allowed to continue sailing. The ship and its explosive cargo were left behind, in the heart of Beirut. In November 2014 it was decided to temporarily store the ammonium nitrate cargo in a warehouse in the port.
Until it goes wrong on August 4, 2020, and the 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate causes a gigantic explosion. View the images here:
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Prior to the explosion, there was a fire in a warehouse. More than 200 people were killed and more than 6,500 people were injured.
2. What do we see from the explosion now, a year later?
A month ago Olaf Koens was still in Beirut. “The construction of the city is going very slowly.” And that is a matter of money, he explains. It is not the case that the Lebanese government is saying: we will make sure that everything will be all right. “Citizens can pay for themselves. And that means that the people who have money can hire construction workers to renovate their houses. Poor people have to save.”
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But that is difficult, because there is financial chaos in the country. Many poorer people still cannot afford the repairs. The result? When you walk through the streets of Beirut, it sometimes differs per floor what a building looks like. “A lot of places are still uninhabitable. The damage is still visible everywhere.”
At the time of the big explosion in Beirut, a newlyweds were shooting a wedding video. Images of how they had to hide went around the world. Almost a year later, the couple revisits the site:
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3. What about these economic problems?
For months, Lebanon has been in an economic crisis that seems far from reaching its lowest point. “It’s not going well,” says Koens. The value of the Lebanese currency has fallen dramatically in the past year. Due to the enormous inflation, many foodstuffs are many times more expensive, and have therefore become virtually unaffordable. From diapers to medicines: everything costs a fortune. “The economic crisis is enormous. I have never seen a country fall so low so quickly.”
A month ago, correspondent Olaf Koens saw at a market in Beirut that fruit and vegetables have become unaffordable for many people. “A lot of people don’t have money to buy the food anymore.”
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There is a shortage of everything. “Drugs, power, electricity, gasoline and food.” And meanwhile, the value of the Lebanese currency continues to fall. “It’s going so fast, but there still doesn’t seem to be a lower limit in sight,” says Koens.
4. Has a culprit already been identified?
“There are people responsible for the explosion, but a year later no one has appeared in court and no one has apologized,” says Koens.
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It was announced at the end of last year that former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers would be charged with the negligence that caused the explosion. Koens: “So people have been appointed, but they have not yet been convicted. I wonder if that will come.”
5. Today the explosion is exactly one year ago. Will there be a memorial?
A minute of silence has been planned to commemorate the victims of the explosion. But a large demonstration was also organised, Koens knows. “Lebanon has always been a country with many ethnic backgrounds, but these demonstrations bring many people together.” For many Lebanese, the explosion in the port of Beirut was the straw that broke the camel’s back. A bucket full of misery, poverty and corruption. They demand changes in the political system.
But what makes Lebanese so angry? It is explained in the video below:
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Koens does not know how the demonstration will go. But he has been to protests in Lebanon more than once. He knows from experience that things can get tough. “You can shoot with real or rubber bullets, tear gas can be used.”
6. Could such a disaster happen again in Lebanon?
“I wouldn’t rule it out,” says Koens. It concerns a specific situation with a certain fuel. Normally there is nothing to worry about if it is stored properly. “The explosion is actually a result of years of corruption and abuse of power in the country, where the country is failing its own citizens.” And nothing has happened about it yet: “The chances of that happening again are small, but the reason it could happen still exists.”
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