UN chief appeals for help in rebuilding Palestinian camp in Lebanon

Nahr el-Bared was destroyed when the Lebanese military fought a three-month battle in 2007 against the al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah Islam group.

The UN secretary-general appealed Friday from Lebanon, urging the international community to provide necessary funding to help finish the rebuilding of a Palestinian refugee camp destroyed in battles against al-Qaeda-inspired militants almost a decade ago. Ban Ki-moon spoke during a visit to the Nahr el-Bared camp, where he inspected a school and was briefed on the ongoing reconstruction effort.

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, right, receives an envelope that has the map of Palestine during his visit to Aamaq school, in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared . (AP)

The Lebanese military fought a three-month battle in 2007 against the al-Qaeda-inspired Fatah Islam group inside the camp. The Lebanese army crushed the group, but the clashes also killed more than 170 soldiers and caused massive destruction, displacing the camp’s residents.

Almost a decade later, the reconstruction work is still not finished and many residents are still waiting to return.

“Almost half the construction has been made but there are still so many people waiting to be returned,” Ban said. “I’m urging the international community to provide remaining funding of at least 200 million dollars so that these people can return.”

Ban inspected the Aamaq school at the camp, where he was received by Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour and the Lebanese minister of social affairs, Rashid Derbas. A UN official explained on a map the ongoing reconstruction as hundreds of Palestinians gathered, chanting in support of the UN efforts.

Tiny Lebanon, which borders Israel and Syria, is home to around half a million Palestinian refugees. With a population of 4.5 million people, Lebanon now also shelters more than one million registered Syrian refugees.