From Cairo, where he is participating in a "high-level dialogue session," the Minister of Energy and Water in the caretaker government, Walid Fayyad, was informed yesterday through a letter from the Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines, Mohamed Arkab, that his visit to Algeria, originally scheduled for October 18 and 19, has been postponed, with a new date being set for November without specifying the exact date. According to information from a central source following the issue, "the Algerian side refuses to receive Minister Fayyad because Electricité du Liban has not yet withdrawn the lawsuit it filed against the Algerian company Sonatrach regarding the 'contaminated fuel' case, which erupted in April 2020 after the Lebanese government accused Sonatrach of selling contaminated fuel transported by a vessel belonging to the Algerian company." This lawsuit, according to the source, "cannot be reversed by the institution; otherwise, it would justify the lawsuit's matter regarding 'commissions and bribes' in the contract signed with Sonatrach, which stipulated in January 2021 the withdrawal of the lawsuit filed by Electricité du Liban. If this does not happen, the company will resort to arbitration since the firm, according to the source, considers that 'the accusations should be directed elsewhere and not at them.'" The matter has become a judicial issue, where the judge previously assigned to follow up on the case refused to allow the trial, thus preventing the withdrawal of the lawsuit.
The source asks, "How long will Lebanon continue to pay the price for flawed policies imposed on Electricité du Liban by successive energy ministers?" He concludes by stating that "the unstudied lawsuit against Sonatrach delays Lebanon's benefit from Algerian fuel."
**Text of the Letter:**
The central office publishes the text of the letter sent by Algerian Minister Arkab to Minister Fayyad on October 16, 2022: "Dear Dr. Walid Fayyad, Minister of Energy and Water in the Republic of Lebanon, in reference to our previous correspondence regarding the programming of your visit to Algeria on October 18 and 19, 2022, and due to urgent commitments that have arisen in my work schedule during this period that cannot be postponed, I regret to inform you of the postponement of this visit to a later date. To facilitate this visit, I suggest that we agree on the programming during November 2022, with the visit date to be determined between our ministerial departments through diplomatic channels. I renew for you our readiness to work together to develop mutual cooperation, and I look forward to meeting you soon in Algeria. Please accept, dear Minister, my highest expressions of appreciation and respect."
Lebanon suffers another setback in the "search for energy" file... from Egypt and Jordan, where promises remain verbal, awaiting an American "go-ahead." Until that moment, the hope remains bleak for importing gas and electricity due to the "Caesar Law" and the absence of a decision from the World Bank on funding, conditional on implementing reforms... and here lies the crux of the issues.
When reaching the door of Iraqi oil, we hear another promise that the shipment will arrive in a week or two... Tomorrow is near, and any citizen is anxiously waiting for it amid the frustrations of "generator bills" and the "alarm of the awaited electricity tariff from Electricité du Liban," which is the only one likely to materialize because it is the easiest to collect money from and the least obstructed by conditions, as the state is certain that the Lebanese has resigned to his fate and believes in his failure to cope in light of these so-called "rescue" economic policies.
