Wazni Orders Unloading of MSC Ship Cargo but Not Sodium Sulfide

W460

Caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni on Thursday instructed the Higher Customs Council to “facilitate the process of unloading the cargo of the ship MSC Masha except for the containers carrying the sodium sulfide substance.”

Wazni also asked the Council to “implement the customs laws” and to “search and inspect unloaded containers to confirm that they do not contain any dangerous chemical substance, in cooperation with the army and the port’s administration.”

Statements issued by the Defense Ministry and the Public Works and Transport Ministry on Wednesday suggested that the containers of sodium sulfide were not destined for Lebanon or for transit to Syria through Lebanon, after a Lebanese lawmaker issued a warning in that regard.

The ship is also carrying goods for Lebanese merchants according to statements by the two aforementioned ministries.

MP Georges Okais of the Lebanese Forces-led Strong Republic bloc had warned Wednesday that “the scenario of the port explosion might be repeated.”

“It seems that this ruling authority does not want to learn from the August 4 massacre,” Okais cautioned in a statement.

“Coming from China, the ship MSC MASHA 3 is preparing to dock at a Lebanese port (Beirut or Tripoli) to unload chemical material, sodium sulfide, with the aim of transferring it as a transit shipment to Syria via Lebanese territory,” the MP said.

“We have the right and the Lebanese people have the right to ask: who guarantees to us that the chemical material will not be emptied and stored inside Lebanese territory in a dreadful repetition of the ammonium nitrate tragedy?” the lawmaker asked.

He also noted that “the sodium sulfide substance is an explosive substance according to studies publicly available through electronic search engines.”

SourceNaharnet
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