Plumbly Visits UNIFIL, South, Stresses Security Made Possible by Implementation of Resolution 1701

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly visited southern Lebanon on Tuesday where he toured part of the area along the Blue Line. He also viewed development projects and met with Lebanese local authorities.

During all his meetings, he emphasized the link between the security and stability, which was made possible in southern Lebanon by the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 and the longer term development of the region.

“I was very pleased to see how the U.N. and local communities are working together to convert unused lands and render them more productive,” said Plumbly at a meeting with farmers after a visit to an agriculture project supported by U.N. Development Program in Marjeyoun.

In Shebaa, he was briefed on a sewage project recently undertaken in the Wastan neighborhood by the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon in cooperation with the local municipality.

Later in the day, he visited a waste-management project established by UNIFIL and the UNDP and now managed by the Municipality of Taybeh.

Following the visit, he said that the project highlighted the way in which different parts of the U.N. system can work together with local authorities to deliver sustainable environmental results for the South: it was a model of cooperation which the U.N. hoped to replicate elsewhere in the South in the future.

Plumbly also visited the eastern sector of the Blue Line and was briefed by UNIFIL officers on the work of the international force there.

Separately, the special coordinator met with local authorities in the Marjeyoun and Shebaa areas and with lawmakers in Tyre.