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UK Home Secretary Stresses 'Commitment to a Strong and Stable Lebanon'

UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd has stressed “commitment to a strong and stable Lebanon,” in a statement issued following her visit to Lebanon on February 19.

It was the Cabinet Minister’s first visit to the country since assuming her post in 2016. Rudd met Interior Minister Nouhad al-Machnouq and discussed the two countries’ “strong bilateral relations,” the British embassy said in a statement. This follows a visit by Machnouq to the UK to meet the former Home Secretary, Theresa May, in 2016.

The one-day visit was an opportunity to “see firsthand how the UK’s £628 million in assistance to Lebanon is helping the country maintain security and stability and supporting local communities coping with the Syrian refugee crisis,” the embassy said.

The visit follows on previous visits by the Middle East Minister Alistair Burt, the Security Minister Ben Wallace and former Secretary of State for International Development.

The UK Home Secretary visited an Informal Tented Settlement in the Bekaa Valley where she met refugee families and spoke to U.N. agencies supporting the UK’s work on resettling 20,000 of the most vulnerable refugees of the Syria conflict to the UK by 2020.

According to the embassy's statement, the UK’s resettlement schemes offer a safe and legal route to the UK for the most vulnerable refugees.

“We purposefully target those in greatest need of assistance, including people requiring urgent medical treatment, survivors of violence and torture and women and children at risk. Over half of those resettled to the UK have been children,” the embassy said.

On her return to London after her visit, the Home Secretary said: “I was very pleased to visit Lebanon for the first time, a country that has shown enormous generosity in hosting refugees since the beginning of the conflict in Syria in 2011.”

“Lebanon’s security and stability is very much the UK’s security and stability, and our support to Lebanon with over £600m of assistance since 2011 is a testament of that. The UK’s partnership, friendship and commitment to Lebanon is as strong as it has ever been, and I am proud that my government is standing shoulder to shoulder with Lebanon at this time,” Rudd said.

She said she held a constructive meeting with Minister Mashnouq in which they discussed a range of issues, and “what more we can do to further strengthen our countries’ bilateral relationship.”

“We discussed Lebanon’s participation in Rome II conference on 15 March and the important role of the Internal security Forces. I am proud that the UK is one of Lebanon’s most significant partners on security, contributing over £84 million to the ISF (Internal Security Forces) and LAF (Lebanese Armed Forces) since 2011, and that we are working together to improve human rights. We also reviewed our strong counter terrorism relations,” the Home Secretary added.

She said she also recognized “the Minister’s work in preparing for the upcoming elections, which will reaffirm Lebanese citizens’ democratic rights, and hopefully see increased female representation in the Lebanese Parliament.”

Source: Naharnet


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