Naharnet

Charbel: Suleiman to Discuss Refugee Crisis with World Leaders in September

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel revealed that President Michel Suleiman will ask for more assistance from the international community next month to deal with the crisis of Syrian refugees fleeing to Lebanon.

In remarks to al-Mustaqbal newspaper published on Thursday, Charbel said Suleiman will discuss with top world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly session the importance of assisting Lebanon over its failure to deal with the growing number of refugees.

Charbel said that a meeting held between Suleiman, Caretaker PM Najib Miqati and several cabinet ministers at Baabda palace on Wednesday tackled possible areas to settle new refugees amid talks about a Western military act in response to the alleged use of deadly chemical weapons by the regime.

“We decided to set the locations to settle the displaced near the Lebanese border in cooperation with international organizations and to move them to other areas that haven't been specified yet,” he told al-Mustaqbal.

According to An Nahar daily, Suleiman agreed with Miqati and the caretaker ministers who attended Wednesday's meeting to implement stricter measures on the border to control the influx.

But the authorities reject keeping the refugees stranded on the border for humanitarian reasons, it said.

Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour confirmed to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that the authorities are working on establishing a “center” on the border to give refuge to the displaced Syrians.

“Setting up camps requires a political decision,” he said.

An Nahar quoted officials as saying that more than 15,900 Syrians entered Lebanon while around 10,100 left the country on Wednesday. Many of them are traveling to other countries through Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport.


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