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The
destruction of the 120,000-tonne capacity structure at the port,
the main entry point for food imports, meant buyers must rely on
smaller private storage facilities for their wheat purchases
with no government reserves to fall back on.
Kuwait's ambassador to Lebanon, Abdulaal al-Qenaie, said in
comments to local radio VdL at the weekend that the silo was
first built in 1969 with a Kuwaiti development loan.
The Gulf monarchy will now rebuild the silo so it remains a
symbol of "how to manage relations between two brotherly
countries that respect each other", Qenaie was cited as saying.
The port explosion killed at least 180 people, injured thousands
and wrecked swathes of the Lebanese capital, pushing the
government to resign.
The now caretaker economy minister, Raoul Nehme, has reassured
the public that there would be no flour or bread crisis in
Lebanon, which buys almost all its wheat from abroad.
Plans for another grain silo in Lebanon's second largest port
Tripoli were shelved years ago due to a lack of funding, a U.N.
official, port official and regional grain expert told Reuters
earlier this month.
Humanitarian aid has poured into Lebanon. But foreign donors
have made clear they will not bail out the state without reforms
to tackle entrenched corruption and negligence.
Gulf Arab states who once gave Lebanon financial support have
grown weary in recent years of the Iran-backed Hezbollah's
expanding role in state affairs.
(Reporting by Ghaida Ghantous and Ellen Francis; Editing by Mark
Heinrich)
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