International donors pledged more than $940 million on Thursday for war-torn Lebanon's immediate relief efforts, nearly double the target amount, according to Reuters. The funds raised at the Stockholm meeting will go to short-term needs, from shelter for those who lost their homes in Israel's war with Hizbollah to the removal of unexploded bombs. Lebanon hopes to hold a bigger conference later this year to raise money for longer-term reconstruction. "We believe that this a very important accomplishment ... This will pave the way for further efforts," Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told a news conference. He told the delegates from 60 countries and aid groups the pledges "show that the Lebanese people are not alone". A statement released after the conference said donors had promised more than $940 million. A Swedish Foreign Ministry official said this included $175 million of U.S. funds, part of an aid package unveiled by President George W. Bush last week. Sizeable donations also came from the European Commission, France and Italy. Conference host Sweden promised $20 million. With earlier commitments, more than $1.2 billion are available for recovery and reconstruction, the statement said. The closing statement also urged Israel to heed a call from United Nations Secretary-General Koffi Annan to lift its six-week-old sea and air blockade of Lebanon and for U.N. Resolution 1701 be fulfilled. The Swedish government had set a goal of $500 million in donor promises for Lebanon, which says a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas inflicted billions of dollars in damage to its infrastructure and economy. "Lebanon, which only seven weeks ago was full of hope and promise, has been torn to shreds by destruction, displacement, dispossession, desolation and death," Siniora earlier said. Stockholm will play host to a smaller gathering on Friday to discuss humanitarian needs in the Palestinian territories. The Lebanon conference took place amid growing Western concern cash handouts from Hizbollah to those whose homes were destroyed or damaged would entrench the guerrillas' popularity. Israel began bombarding Lebanon after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid. Nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed during the war. Siniora said Hizbollah would have no access to funds raised in Stockholm. "This idea that it will be siphoned one way or another to Hizbollah is a fallacy." Lebanese officials said an immediate priority was the building of 10,000 prefabricated homes for some of the 1 million people displaced by the destruction. Another was the removal of unexploded ordnance, including thousands of cluster bombs. "What is particularly discouraging ... is to see how many cluster bombs were used in the last 72 hours of the war," U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland told Reuters Television. Lebanon also plans to earmark $52 million for further work on clearing an oil slick that has spread along its coast since the bombing of the Jiyyeh power station last month. According to U.N. and Lebanese estimates, Israeli strikes on the plant's fuel storage tanks spilled 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the Mediterranean Sea.
