Exclusive: Lebanese Minister unveils plan for displaced Syrians
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The Lebanese Minister talks about the formation of a tripartite Lebanese-Syrian-UN committee, stressing the need to work in coordination with Damascus to secure a safe and dignified return for the displaced.
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Exclusive: Lebanese Minister of Displaced: Plan for displaced Syrians.
“A stone in a pond of stagnant water,” this is how some observers described the call of the caretaker Prime Minister in Lebanon, Najib Mikati, for the international community to cooperate with Lebanon to return the displaced Syrians to their country, otherwise "Lebanon will take a position that would not be welcomed by Western countries, which is to get the Syrians out by implementing legal means and applying Lebanese laws."
The number of Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon amounts to approximately 1.5 million. About 900,000 of them are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and most of them suffer from difficult living conditions.
The official speech made by Mikati is considered the first Lebanese speech at this level by a head of a Lebanese executive authority, and it comes amid the "Brussels 6" conference organized by the European Union to support "the future of Syria and the region", and in light of an economic, financial and social crisis that Lebanon suffers from.
Establishment of a tripartite joint committee
The Minister of the Displaced in charge of the file of the relationship with the Syrian side in the caretaker government, Issam Sharafeddine, said in an exclusive interview to Al Mayadeen Net that Mikati's statement was "improvised", and refused to comment on it.
He added that the situation will "crystallize soon," revealing the details of his meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative in Lebanon, Ayaki Ito, who asked for a deadline to respond to the proposals and questions.
The Lebanese minister revealed that “we have a plan for the deportation in monthly stages,” explaining that this “will be based on a geographical census of the displaced,” recalling the issuance of an official government decision to follow up on the issue with the concerned authorities, as he was personally entrusted with the Syrian file, and discussed the matters with the Representative of the UNHCR for Syrian Refugees.
Sharafeddine stressed that "the most important thing we agreed on was the establishment of a joint tripartite, Lebanese, Syrian and international committee."
