KUWAIT: Kuwait strongly condemns recent statements by Lebanon’s Minister of Economy and Trade Amin Salam regarding its foreign aid policy, Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah said in a statement on Saturday. Salam had made an appeal to Kuwait on the anniversary of the Beirut blast on Aug 3 to fund the rebuilding of the wheat silos that were destroyed by the explosion. The silos located in Beirut Port were built in the late 1960s with help from Kuwait through a loan from the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.

In his statement on Thursday, Salam was quoted as saying that a decision to release funds from KFAED to rebuild the silos can be taken at Kuwait’s foreign ministry “with a stroke of a pen”. “Such statements go against basic political norms and reflect insufficient understanding of the nature of decision making in the state of Kuwait,” Sheikh Salem said. “Decision making is based on constitutional and institutional bases, including decisions related to humanitarian grants and loans that Kuwait gives to other countries.”

While Kuwait takes pride in its historical record of foreign aid, it categorically rejects any intervention in its internal affairs and decisions, the foreign minister added, urging the Lebanese minister to retract his statement “out of keenness to preserve the strong relations between the two countries”. On Saturday, Salam said that the term “with a stroke of a pen” is used colloquially in Lebanon to indicate that something can be done quickly and easily. “I did not mean any offense or violations of the constitutional and legal norms and mechanisms in Kuwait and Lebanon,” Salam said, hoping that Kuwait accepts his clarification.

“The phrases were not intended to offend institutional work, but it may happen sometimes that words are used in a colloquial dialect. This is what happened, the intention was to indicate acceleration and not anything else,” he added. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati reiterated the strong relations between his country and Kuwait, “which cannot be tainted”. Commenting on the controversy following Salam’s statements, Mikati said that Lebanon respects “the principle of no interference in the internal affairs of other countries, including Kuwait, where decisions are subject to constitutional controls”.

Mikati further reiterated that Kuwait “never hesitates to support their brothers in Lebanon”. Also, the Kuwaiti Embassy in Lebanon on Saturday urged Kuwaiti citizens in Lebanon to steer clear of “areas of disturbance”, calling on them to keep a low profile. The embassy, in a press release, advised Kuwaitis to stay away from “sites of security disturbances” in some areas in Lebanon and follow relevant guidelines issued by concerned local authorities. It further asked them not to hesitate to call it in case of emergency. Mikati commissioned Saturday Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Bou Habib to communicate with Arab brothers to reassure them about the safety of their nationals in Lebanon.

In a statement issued by Mikati’s media office, the premier followed up with Bou Habib and Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi on the developments related to the “warning statements” issued by the embassies of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Germany for their nationals in Lebanon. In added that available information reached after discussing with the military and security leaders revealed that the “overall security situation in general does not call for concern or panic”. It noted that the political and security contacts on addressing the events in Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp have made progress. Lebanon marked three years since one of history’s biggest non-nuclear explosions rocked Beirut with hundreds of protesters marching alongside victims’ families Friday to demand long-awaited justice.

Nobody has been held to account for the tragedy as political and legal pressures impede the investigation. On Aug 4, 2020, the massive blast at Beirut port destroyed swathes of the Lebanese capital, killing more than 220 people and injuring at least 6,500. Authorities said the disaster was triggered by a fire in a warehouse where a vast stockpile of ammonium nitrate fertilizer had been haphazardly stored for years. Three years on, the probe is virtually at a standstill, leaving survivors still yearning for answers. Protesters, many of them wearing black and carrying photographs of the victims, marched towards the port shouting slogans including: “We will not forget”.

Some protesters waved a Lebanese flag covered in blood-like red paint while others carried an enormous flag covered in a written pledge to keep fighting for justice. The blast struck amid an economic collapse which the World Bank has dubbed one of the worst in recent history and which is widely blamed on a governing elite accused of corruption and mismanagement. Since its early days, the probe into the explosion has faced a slew of political and legal challenges. In Dec 2020, lead investigator Fadi Sawan charged former prime minister Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence. But as political pressure mounted, Sawan was removed from the case.

His successor, Tarek Bitar, unsuccessfully asked lawmakers to lift parliamentary immunity for MPs who were formerly cabinet ministers. The powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah group has launched a campaign against Bitar, accusing him of bias and demanding his dismissal. The interior ministry has refused to execute arrest warrants which the lead investigator has issued. In Dec 2021, Bitar suspended his probe after a barrage of lawsuits, mainly from politicians he had summoned on charges of negligence. But in a surprise move this January, Bitar resumed investigations after a 13-month hiatus, charging eight new suspects including high-level security officials and Lebanon’s top prosecutor, Ghassan Oueidat.

Oueidat then charged Bitar with insubordination and “usurping power”, and ordered the release of all those detained over the blast. Bitar has refused to step aside, but has not set foot inside Beirut’s justice palace for months. “Work (on the investigation) is ongoing,” said a legal expert with knowledge of the case, requesting anonymity due to its sensitivity. Bitar is determined to keep his promise to deliver justice for victims’ families, the expert added. French President Emmanuel Macron, told Lebanese: “I am thinking of you”. “Lebanon was not alone then, and it isn’t alone now. You can count on France,” he posted. Washington condemned the long delay in holding those responsible to account.

“The lack of progress towards accountability is unacceptable and underscores the need for judicial reform and greater respect for the rule of law in Lebanon,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. On Thursday, 300 individuals and organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International, renewed a call for the United Nations to establish a fact-finding mission — a demand Lebanese officials have repeatedly rejected. “If those responsible are not held accountable, it will put the country on a trajectory that allows this kind of crime to be repeated,” HRW’s Lama Fakih told AFP. – Agencies