France’s Hollande pledges military, financial support to Lebanon

French President Francois Hollande on Saturday pledged financial and military support for Lebanon and urged politicians to end the political crisis by electing a president as soon as possible, at the start of a regional tour.

The Socialist president vowed to step up assistance for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, pledging 50 million euros this year and 100 million euros over the next three years to cope with the humanitarian crisis. Lebanon hosts more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, a quarter of its population. It has the highest refugee-to-resident population in the world. Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri told Hollande that it was necessary "to find a political solution to lift the burden" created by the refugee population on the country. The French leader on Sunday travelled to a refugee camp for Syrians in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley to speak with families who will be resettled in France. "I just visited a camp the likes of which are all over Lebanon," Hollande told reporters after spending nearly an hour in the camp. "They (Syrian children) don't want violence. They want to learn and go home, join their families, their country," he said. Hollande's Beirut visit, the first stop on a high-profile four day Middle East tour, came just weeks after Saudi Arabia cut $3 billion in military aid to Lebanon, where violence has repeatedly spilled over the border from the brutal Syrian civil war since it began in 2011. Hollande promised, "immediate aid to strengthen Lebanon's military capacity" to protect its people. High-profile tour It is Hollande's second visit to Lebanon since 2012. He will travel on to Egypt on Sunday afternoon and then Jordan after his two-day visit to Lebanon. France 24 Photo

Bono addresses US Senate on refugee and violent extremism crises

U2 frontman Bono brought his star power to Capitol Hill as he called on members of Congress to take swift action to deal with the global refugee crisis and violent extremism. In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, Bono drew a bleak picture as he described the flood of people fleeing their homes in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The human torrent threatens the very idea of European unity, he said, as he urged lawmakers to think of foreign aid as national security instead of charity. “When aid is structured properly, with a focus on fighting poverty and improving governance, it could be the best bulwark we have against the extremism of our age,” Bono said. Bono said members of Congress need to confront an “existential threat” to Europe that hasn’t been seen since the 1940s. Countries such as Poland and Hungary are moving to the right politically, a shift he described as a “hyper nationalism.” The United Kingdom is even considering leaving the European Union. “This is unthinkable stuff,” he said. “And you should be very nervous in America about it.” Africa is grappling with what Bono called a phenomenon of three extremes — ideology, poverty, and climate. “Those three extremes make one unholy trinity of an enemy and our foreign policy needs to face in that direction,” he said. “It’s even bigger than you think.” Bono said he understood the financial stress the US and other nations are under as they debate how much foreign aid to allot. But he warned bills will only get bigger without action. “If you don’t do it now, it’s going to cost a lot more later,” he said. Bono also suggested using comedy to fight extremist groups. “It’s like, you speak violence, you speak their language. But you laugh at them when they are goose-stepping down the street and it takes away their power,” he said. “So I am suggesting that the Senate send in Amy Schumer and Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen.” Before sitting at the witness table, Bono posed for photos with three members of Code Pink, who wore pink tiaras and held cardboard torches and signs reading “Refugees Welcome”. Bono co-founded the One Campaign, an advocacy group that works to end poverty and preventable disease. Irish Examiner Photo

Fifteen busses with refugees leave Idomeni in last 24 hours for accomodation centers

Fifteen busses with refugees and migrants have left Idomeni’s makeshift camp in the last 24 hours for open organized accommodation centers in northern Greece, it was announced on Tuesday. “After the events last Sunday we realized there’s no other way out and I will not allow myself to relive this kind of situation,” a Yezidi Kurd told ANA-MPA. “My kids were terrified and they couldn’t breathe from the teargas.” Others present in the boarding of the busses said they were tired from the situation at the camp and hoped the living conditions at the centers would be better. ANAmpa

UN chief visits Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, meets Middle Eastern leaders in capital

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan
UN Photo Credit: Mark Garten

27 March 2016 – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon continued his trip to the Middle East today with a visit to Jordan alongside World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, where they met with refugees from the Zaatari camp, as well as with senior government officials from Palestine, Turkey and Jordan, including King Abdullah II. “I was here at the beginning of the establishment of Zaatari camp and I saw a lot of difference: first of all, much more people, unfortunately, are there without being able to return,” Mr. Ban told reporters at a press conference about his second visit to the camp since it opened in 2012. “I saw lots of activities, signs of life. I could find everything which you may have in the centre of Amman city. Even a theatre was there, not to mention shopping centres and restaurants and sports centres. However nice all those facilities may be, it is not the same as what they could enjoy home in Syria,” he added. The Secretary-General's activities also included an open dialogue with youth in the capital, Amman, at the University of Jordan. He said thanks to its strong institutions, he is confident the country “will continue to play a principled role in the region and the world.” “Young people are not just the leaders of tomorrow; they are the leaders of today. And you are part of the biggest generation of young people in history,” he told them. In meetings earlier today, Mr. Ban expressed his appreciation to Jordan for hosting Syrian refugees, and applauded the increased support by the international community to the countries most impacted by the Syrian crisis. An international conference was recently convened in London by the UN, the United Kingdom, Germany, Norway and Kuwait, where $5.5 billion in funding was mobilized for this year. Mr. Ban said it was the “most successful one” but believes the global community needs to do much more. “That is why we are going to convene this World Humanitarian Summit, which will be the first-ever in the history of the United Nations, to discuss and to bring out some predictable sustainable framework to provide humanitarian assistance to more than 120 million people around the world, including Syrian refugees, including many helpless, defenseless people around the world,” he underlined, referring to the upcoming meeting on 23 and 24 May in Istanbul. UN News Centre