Report: Ban Assures Salam that Lebanon Must Continue on Rejecting Naturalization of Refugees
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon concluded on Friday a two-day visit to Lebanon during which held talks with Prime Minsiter Tammam Salam and toured Syrian refugee encampments in the country.
For the first time, the U.N. chief was able to closely inspect various affairs on the ground, “which will favor Lebanon,” diplomatic sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper.
Among these issues is his rejection of the naturalization of refugees, which he informed Salam of, they added.
He urged officials to exert efforts to ensure the displaced people's return to their country and to pressure, to that end, major powers concerned with the Syrian crisis.
Ban was able to witness firsthand the situation of Syrian refugees on the ground and their political, security, economic, social, educational, and health burden, remarked the sources.
This will encourage international organizations to increase their aid to Lebanon and seek to ensure the return of the refugees to their homeland.
Lebanon is home to more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, or nearly a quarter of the country's 4.5 million people. Lebanon says that another half a million Syrians live in the country as well.
Ban held talks during his trip with Salam, Speaker Nabih Berri, Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.
He also visited the headquarters of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon in al-Naqoura in the South.
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