Derbas Optimistic on Result of Donors Conference, Throws Weight behind Salam

Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas has said he was optimistic that Lebanon would receive a good share of pledges made by international donors at a conference that was held in Kuwait last week.

“We are optimistic. Lebanon's share is good,” Derbas told al-Liwaa newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

“Twenty five percent of Lebanon's population became poor after displaced Syrians” began taking taking refuge in Lebanon, he said.

Syria's civil war, now in its fifth year, has killed at least 220,000 people. Around 11 million people, or half of Syria's population, have been displaced, according to U.N. figures. Of the displaced, nearly 4 million have been forced to flee to the nearby countries of Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, stretching the resources of those nations.

The donors committed $3.8 billion in aid for Syrians affected by the grinding civil war at the third donors' conference in Kuwait , less than half of what the U.N. requested for this year to cope with the growing humanitarian crisis.

More than a quarter of the total came from two countries: Kuwait, which hosted the third annual conference and pledged half a billion dollars, and the United States, which promised the largest single commitment of $507 million.

The European Commission and EU member states pledged close to $1.2 billion total, double the overall EU pledge at last year's conference.

The U.N. had requested $8.4 billion this year — its largest appeal yet for the war-ravaged country.

Derbas said that Lebanon “did not exist” at the second donors' conference that was held in Kuwait last year because the pledged money went to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

But following this year's conference and due to the plan proposed by the Lebanese government, 37 percent of the assistance that Lebanon asked for will be allocated for the first time for government spending and the remaining 63 percent will cover humanitarian cases through the UNHCR such as aid to Lebanon's most vulnerable communities and the refugees.

The minister said the donors are capable of meeting Lebanon's request for 2.4 dollars of assistance for 2015-2016.

Derbas was asked about Prime Minister Tammam Salam's stance at the Arab Summit that was held in the Egyptian Red sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh last month and Hizbullah's reaction to it.

Derbas said that Hizbullah expressed its viewpoint inside and outside the cabinet “but no other minister expressed solidarity with it.”

“The prime minister does not need anyone's permission when he speaks,” the minister told al-Liwaa.

At the summit, Salam said Lebanon backed any Arab decision which preserved Yemen's stability and territorial integrity.

His position drew a sharp retort from Hizbullah that was also angered by the two-day summit's results which ended with a vow to defeat Iranian-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen and the formal unveiling of plans to form a joint Arab intervention force.

Following his return to Beirut, Salam told a cabinet session that his stance stemmed from his keenness on Lebanon and its role in the Arab community.

But Hizbullah's Industry Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan slammed the PM, pointing out that his remarks did not reflect the viewpoint of all Lebanese.

He also allegedly said that the party did not approve his statement.

G.K.

H.K.