Bassil Calls for Halting Entry of Syrian Refugees: They Threaten Lebanese Entity
Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil warned on Friday that the Syrian refugee crisis is threatening the Lebanese entity, noting that the youth will face more unemployment amid the soaring numbers of refugees.
“We became two people in one nation and not one nation in two countries,” Bassil said in a press conference.
He pointed out that the demand on electricity increased from 213 megawatts to 306 megawatts due to the increasing crisis.
The Syria conflict will cost Lebanon $7.5 billion from 2012 to 2014, according to an estimate given by World Bank president Jim Yong Kim to the meeting held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
The U.N. says there are already 760,000 Syrians registered in Lebanon and there will be one million by the end of the year.
Lebanon's government estimates there are already 1.2 million with many not bothering to register.
Bassil also revealed that 87 percent of people committing crimes recently are Syrian nationals.
“The Syrian displacement crisis threatens the Lebanese entity,” the caretaker Minister added.
The Lebanese government says there will soon be a strain on electricity supplies and is having to start school lessons by shifts to cope with an extra 90,000 Syrian children.
Kim said there was already "fierce" competition for jobs between Lebanese and Syrians.
He said that by the end of 2014 there could be 200,000-300,000 more Lebanese unemployed which would double the unemployment rate to more than 20%.
He called on the state to halt the Syrian entry to Lebanon and only allow the “extraordinary cases that need healthcare to enter the country.”
Bassil also noted that the services that the state is providing the refugees with “encourage them to head to Lebanon.”
President Michel Suleiman considered, during a meeting for the International Support Group for Lebanon on Wednesday at New York, that demanding funds to enhance their conditions will facilitate merging them in our community.
He has called for an international conference on the refugee crisis which has sent more than two million Syrians spilling into Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.
The U.N. estimates there will be three million by the end of the year.
No concrete pledges of aid were made at the meeting. But the World Bank and IMF are to appeal for funds for Lebanon at their autumn meetings in October.
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