Egypt to Send 17 Tons’ Worth of Cholera Vaccines According to the National, “Egypt will send 17 tonnes of medicine and vaccines to help tackle Lebanon’s deadly cholera outbreak. The aid will arrive by military plane in Beirut on Wednesday morning, the Egyptian embassy in Lebanon said. The mission said Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati requested help with the outbreak — its first in three decades — from Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi at the recent Arab League summit in Algeria.” [The National]
USAID Administrator Power in Lebanon for Three-Day Visit According to Al Arabiya English with reporting from Joseph Haboush, “USAID director Samantha Power arrived in Beirut on Tuesday for a three-day visit aimed at providing support to the Lebanese people, more than half of whom are in need of some form of food aid.” [Al Arabiya English]
Interior Minister Affirms National Security Amid Presidential Vacuum According to the Arab News, “Following a meeting with the Central Internal Security Council, caretaker minister Bassam Mawlawi said security is something all Lebanese require and ‘it is the duty of security bodies to maintain it using all available means’.” [Arab News]
PM Mikati States Lebanon’s Vulnerability to Climate Change at COP27 According to L’Orient Today, “Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Tuesday that Lebanon is vulnerable to climate change effects that could trigger a crash in Lebanon’s gross domestic product, exacerbating its current crises. Speaking at COP27, the UN conference being held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the premier pledged Lebanon’s commitment to prioritizing adaptation measures, the state-run National News Agency reported.” [L’Orient Today]
OPINION & ANALYSIS
Arab News Lebanese Forum Delegates Unite on Implementing All Terms of Taif Agreement Najia HoussariHoussari writes, “The terms of a 1989 deal negotiated in Saudi Arabia to end Lebanon’s civil war and return political normalcy to the country must be implemented in full, a former minister has claimed. Rashid Derbas’ comments echoed those of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri who said on Monday that the Taif Agreement acted as a constitution providing equality among the Lebanese people.
Their remarks followed a recent forum, organized by the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Al-Bukhari and held at the UNESCO Palace in Beirut, commemorating the 33rd anniversary of the accord. Speakers at the gathering unanimously pointed out the need to apply provisions of the agreement still to be enacted and they reiterated their objections to amending them.”
The Policy Initiative Disaster Governance and Aid Effectiveness: the Case of Lebanon’s 3RF Sophie Bloemeke and Mona HarbBloemeke and Harb write, “Two years after the Beirut Port blast destroyed one-third of Lebanon’s capital and killed more than 220 people, two of the main champions and designers of the aid architecture that now governs the recovery process left their positions in Lebanon to lead reform programs abroad. They leave behind a structure known to a few as the “3RF” – the Reform, Recovery, and Reconstruction Framework – albeit one that is largely invisible to the majority of Lebanon’s population. The 3RF is a platform established by the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank in 2020 as an institutional response to the Beirut Port explosion, which aims to provide “a framework of key actions to support the recovery and reconstruction of Beirut,” relying on “inclusive institutional arrangements” that bring together the government, international partners, the private sector, and civil society organizations (CSOs). Based on a mixed-methods study using primary data from 24 interviews, participant observation, and desk research, we conducted a study on how the 3RF has performed to date. We examined the 3RF’s effectiveness in terms of initiating reforms, institutional strengthening, and adaptability to the political context, focusing on the inclusion of CSOs, particularly at the Consultative Group level (which grouped selected CSOs) and at the sector coordination level (through working groups). The study makes two arguments. First, although it includes adaptive and effective institutional arrangements that may enable reforms, the 3RF is furthering civil society fragmentation. Second, international organizations’ incoherence and competition is consolidating the political status quo. In this article, we examine and describe three interconnected sets of structural constraints that limit the performance of the 3RF: (1) donors’ competing agendas and the platform’s institutional incoherence, (2) political stalemate and the Lebanese Government’s lack of political will, and (3) the insufficient involvement of CSOs in decision-making processes. Before expounding on these constraints, we offer an overview of the 3RF.”
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the American Task Force on Lebanon, a non-profit, nonpartisan leadership organization of Lebanese-Americans.
