Clages: Support Group to Discuss Challenges Facing Lebanon, Offer Further Aid

German ambassador to Lebanon Christian Clages stressed on Tuesday that the International Support Group for Lebanon will discuss during a meeting the challenges facing the country and means to further aid the Lebanese army.

“Support for the Lebanese army is ongoing,” Clages said in an interview published in An Nahar newspaper.

The German diplomat pointed out that the one-day conference on Syrian refugee crisis in Berlin on Tuesday aims at voicing solidarity with the displaced and the nations that are hosting them.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam headed to Berlin on Monday to attend the conference. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas.

“We are seeking to further aid our partners in the region,” Clages remarked.

He noted that his country sought to hold the conference at this time in order to determine a way to share the burden with the countries that are hosting Syrian refugees.

Asked about Lebanon's decision to sharply limit the iflux of refugee, Clages refused to comment on the decision, saying that Lebanon exerted efforts to host the displaced and it is reasonable to thoroughly study the negative repercussions of the matter on the country's economy, security and society.

Last week, the cabinet approved a new policy to stop the flow of refugees to Lebanon with certain exceptions.

Ninette Kelley, UNHCR's representative in Lebanon, confirmed increased restrictions at the border with Syria.

Not all Syrian refugees enter Lebanon through the official crossings, however, with many traversing the porous and difficult-to-patrol border area.

Lebanon is already hosting more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees, an enormous strain for a country with a population of just four million.

The influx has tested the country's overstretched infrastructure, and created fresh tensions.

Lebanese politicians have long warned that the country cannot continue to shoulder such a disproportionate refugee burden, and calls for the closure of the border have increased after numerous security incidents.

Concerning Lebanon's rejection to sign the 1951 Geneva Convention on the status of refugees, Clages denied that Germany urged Lebanon to ink the treaty.

“We haven't discussed the matter at all.”

The 1951 Convention, which Lebanon has not signed, is the key legal document in defining who are refugees, their rights and the legal obligations of states.

Lebanon is already suffering from the presence of more than 350,000 Palestinian refugees.

Clages said that his country already hosts around 70,000 Syrian refugees, adding that Germany will continue its naturalization program in cooperation with the UN refugee agency.

Germany this year expects some 200,000 asylum seekers to cross its borders -- or nearly 60 percent more than in 2013 when numbers had already soared by almost two-thirds.

The leading country of origin is Syria, where over three years of bloody fighting have driven more than two million people to flee, mostly to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

H.K.

G.K.