 |
| 21/06/2008 International donors will meet in Vienna on Monday to collect funds for the reconstruction of the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, the foreign ministry announced.
The conference, which convenes at the request of the Lebanese government, will be attended by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik.
About 31,000 refugees were relocated from the camp after deadly clashes raged for more than three months last year between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army, leaving much of the shantytown reduced to rubble.
The fighting between the army and Fatah al-Islam militants broke out at the camp on May 20, and many refugees were relocated to Beddawi, around 10 kilometers south of Nahr al-Bared, causing tension with people there.
More than 400 people – about 300 militants and 168 soldiers – were killed in the bloody clashes before the army crushed the rebel uprising and regained control of the camp on September 2.
According to Lebanese estimates, reconstruction could total $249 million. A first donors’ conference held in September raked in $55 million in emergency aid. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment