A conference was organized on March 31st by the Lebanese Environment Party (LEP) about the management of the oil spill which resulted from the Israeli bombardment on the reservoirs of Jiyeh power plant. This conference put face to face the General manager of the Ministry of the Environment Berge Hatjian and the conservationists. Mr Hatjian asserted for the first time that it was not of the responsibility of the ministry to take care of such a crisis, and that this task fell to the High committee of help, but that this one was submerged by the emergencies of the war itself.

The LEP had drafted a rather oppressive report on the management of the crisis, asking for accounts on the gaps noticed in that management and on the distribution of international assistances (esteemed by him about 15 million dollars). Mr Hatjian answered that the ministry managed only two of the donations: the ones of the Program of United Nations for the development (PNUD) and of OPEC, given during the first days after the war (representing the equivalent of about 400 000 dollars). Other helps were directly employed by the donors, and the General manager underlined that some of the agencies had drafted wholeheartedly reports on their activities and the spent budgets, but others had been less cooperative...

Recommendations followed the debates, concerning mainly the creation of an organ dedicated to follow-up (and made of official representatives and civil society representatives), and also the opening of discussions about the creation of a committee that would take charge of urgent matters of this type.

Finally, the participants to the congress raised the necessity of lodging a complaint immediately against Israel to the UN Security Council, asking the Ministry of Justice to complete the file so that it can be presented as soon as possible.