As I write this, at 4.15 pm local time, we have had main electricity continuously for the last 48 hours. To people in most parts of the world this may not seem unusual, but in Lebanon the electricity supply has been quite severely rationed for many years. A combination of incompetence and corruption and the reluctance of consumers to pay their bills all contribute to the problems of the Electricity Authority, which is the beneficiary of subsidies from the government to the tune of USD 1 billion per year and still charges rates among the highest in the world for an intermittent supply.
In recent weeks, however, the supply has been better and cuts fewer. Quite why, no-one can say but it is a welcome relief from dependence on our stand-by generator. Everyone has to have an alternative to the main electricity supply and in all towns and cities privately owned neighbourhood generators will provide this service in return for a regular monthly payment. Others, like me, have their own generator, but with the cost of diesel fuel having increased by about 50% in the last month running costs have escalated and therefore the more reliable main supply is most welcome.
The Arab League “Summit” in Damascus a week ago has done nothing to resolve the Lebanese political situation. Boycotted by Lebanon, and attended by only low-level delegations from about half the membership, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, it was destined to become a non-event. On the surface, we seem to be in a situation where nothing is happening. Behind the scenes, there is talk of re-starting the National Dialogue” among all Lebanese factions and, while this is very desirable, the chances of it commencing discussions, let alone agreeing on anything, seem remote.
I shall be going to Cyprus this evening for five days, where progress towards a solution to the division of the island looks a better prospect that at any time in the past and much more likely than a solution to the political stalemate in Lebanon. During my stay in Cyprus the Lebanese parliament is scheduled to meet, yet again, on Tuesday to elect a president. As in the past, it is generally expected that the session will be postponed once more. At present no-one seems to be doing much about the matter and one is lead to the conclusion that neither side really wants an election to take palce. The present impasse may well drag on for a long time. The Arab League summit in Damascus next week should address the issue, but what is needed is the will on the part of the Lebanese political leaders to resolve the issues, and that seems to be sadly lacking. On a more positive note, the political rhetoric has diminished and violence has been largely avoided recently.
Alice in Wonderland seems an appropriate comparison to the situation in Lebanon sometimes.
You may recall that in December 2006 the pro-Syrian opposition withdrew its five cabinet members, thus, in their eyes, rendering the government unconstitutional. However, the Prime Minister did not accept the resignations, the ministers stayed at home but continued to collect their salaries, the government continued to function and most lawyers are of the opinion that the government is operating within the constitution.
There is to be an Arab League summit in Damascus at the end of this month. In keeping with protocol, the Syrian government had, by the end of last week, dispatched a minister to each member country to deliver an invitation to the Head of State. Except, of course to Lebanon, where there has been no Head of State since November 23 2007. A number of countries let it be known that their respective monarchs/presidents would not attend the summit if Lebanon was not invited, so a few days ago the resigned (pro-Syrian) Lebanese foreign minister turned up at his office in Beirut to receive a minister from Syria who delivered an invitation, said to be addressed to the Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora. Now, of course, there is an ongoing debate about who, if anyone, should attend. Some say boycott the summit, some say send a low level delegation and some say the Prime Minister should attend. Watch this space!
I am at present in Oman, part way through a 10 day tour which includes Muscat, Salalah and more remote areas. Hence, the lack of postings recently. What a contrast Oman is to the rest of the Gulf. In many ways Oman today reminds me of Bahrain and Dubai when I first knew them almost 40 years ago. Everything still seems to close for a siesta between 1 and 4 pm, even the shopping centres – very civilized and so different to Dubai. The tallest building is a mere 12 floors and most are no more than three or four stories. Oman is one of the few places in the area where you will find citizens actually working in jobs other than the civil service and, maybe, banks and they outnumber foreigners four to one in the country, again a contrast to the UAE, where there are some four foreigners to every citizen.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese political crisis runs on. The election of a new president, scheduled for tomorrow, is certain to be postponed yet again and a French Foreign Ministry official has been outspoken enough to blame the lack of progress on the Lebanese political leaders themselves, rather than the outside influences that usually said to be the culprits.
Amr Moussa has now returned to Beirut to conduct what may well be make or break negotiations on the Arab League initiative. If he fails, it is likely that it will be.
Amer Mousa, Secretary General of the Arab League has postponed his planned visit to Beirut, due to have started tomorrow. Presumably his asssistant who has been in Beirut for several days had not been able to pave the way for agreement on the election of the president on 26 February. No doubt the parliamentary session will be postponed yet again.
Arrived in Cyprus last night and will be staying in Nicosia until 24 Feb.
Meanwhile, the following was published on the website Ya Lubnan today
Breaking News: Lebanon army intervenes to end clashes in Beirut
Sunday, 17 February, 2008 @ 12:49 AM
Beirut – Lebanese army troops intervened to restore order as pro-government and opposition supporters engaged in fist fights and beat each other with sticks in Ras el-Nabaa, Muslim neighborhood of Beirut late Saturday, police and TV stations reported.
Gunfire was heard in the melee but it was not clear who fired and there was no immediate word on casualties from the police.
Television footage showed scores of riot police backed by helmeted troops manning armored carriers taking up positions. At least two persons were shown injured in the footage.
Aljadeed TV showed a man, his right cheek bloodied, speaking on a mobile phone. Paramedics carried another man on a stretcher into an ambulance. The station read out names of 11 people reportedly injured in the clashes and said several cars were damaged. They are as follows.
Mohammad Tabbara, Firas Al-Halabi, Hassan Dogan, Saad Mansour, Hassan Mansour, Khader Al-Turk, Ahmed Morsi, Ahmad al-Halabi, Mohammed Wahby, Hassan Arnaout, Ziad Shehab
The total number of wounded was 14 and all have reportedly been taken to nearby hospitals
State-run National News Agency reported trouble in other Beirut neighborhoods and they are:
Khandaq al Ghameek, Barbeer, Beshara el Khoury , Mazraa
Such clashes have become common in recent weeks as tensions escalate between rival Lebanese camps and the country's 15-month-old political crisis deepens.
The Beirut neighborhood of Ras el-Nabaa where the scuffle erupted late Saturday has in the last four days been the scene of sporadic clashes between supporters of the pro-Western government and the pro-Syrian, Hezbollah-led opposition.
Clashes Saturday spread to three nearby neighborhoods, according to TV reports, but ended within a couple of hours.
The neighborhoods involved have a mix of Sunni and Shiite Muslims, whose loyalties are split along the political divide. Shiites support the pro-Syrian opposition as the militant Shiite Hezbollah group does, while Sunnis support the U.S.-backed government.
Hezbollah's al-Manar television later said that followers of a pro-government group tried to storm an opposition's office at Ras el-Nabaa but the report could not be independently verified.
A Shiite opposition protest over electricity cuts in south Beirut neighborhoods last month degenerated into a riot, prompting troops to open fire. Seven people were killed in that violence.
Update – 1: 00 AM Sunday
According to the Sunday An Nahar daily the number of wounded has risen to 20 . Most of the wounded were taken to the nearby al Maqassed hospital
Several apartments and cars in Ras el Nabbaa and Beshara el Khoury were set ablaze
The army intervened and ended the clashes and the situation is currently under control
Both Hezbollah and Amal have denied that their members were involved in these clashes , despite the fact that all the reports blamed them for initiating the riots.
lebanon clashes 2 -16-17.jpg Lebanese army soldiers, are seen through a broken car windshield as they secure a road in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008. lebanon clashes 2 -16-17 -2.jpg A Lebanese man passes by a car with a broken windshield as they secure a road in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008.Sources: AP, IHT, Ya Libnan
The following article appeared in the Beirut Daily Star today and may be of interest.
A new struggle for life after war in Tyre
Southern town suffers strains from political crisis in Beirut as it tries to recover from 2006 conflict
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Rebecca Murray
Inter Press
TYRE: The solemn black-clad crowd rallied in Tyre's downtown for the Muslim commemoration of Ashoura, which marks the battlefield death of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, and an enduring symbol of resistance for the Shiites in Lebanon. The population here is mostly Shiite Muslims.
A few blocks away along the Mediterranean shore, a small, rapt audience watched Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah sermonize on a cafe television. On a veranda next door, bar worker Hussein and his friends drank beer and soaked in the sun.
“From 1980 I used to come here and drink beer on the beach,” said Hussein, who was born in the South but grew up in Beirut. “This town is [Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's party] Amal, and Hizbullah does not ask us about this.”
Tyre enjoys a reputation as a laid back summer resort with a “liberal” lifestyle in the heart of South Lebanon – with its striking Roman ruins, ancient Christian fishing harbor, and bustling beachfront lined with restaurants, coffee shops and bars.
But during the off-season – and compounded by the negative impact of the 2006 war with Israel, the ongoing political crises in Beirut and skyrocketing prices nationwide – the town's family-owned retail shops and businesses, farmers and fishermen barely make a living.
“Nearly all people here work two jobs,” says Chawki Ghandour, local branch manager for the Bank of Beirut. “And most depend on funds sent from their family members working abroad.”
Ten miles south of the Tyre waterfront lies the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping headquarters at Naqourra, and Israel's border just beyond. On the hills and on the coastal plain in between are acres of citrus and banana plantations, and the villages where the Hizbullah party draws some of its strongest support.
Under fierce bombardment in 2006, many villagers fled to Tyre's plush Rest House resort and the surrounding Palestinian refugee camps for relative safety, before heading up the dangerous coastal road north to Sidon. “During the war my family home was bombed, and they went to Beirut,” says Hassan Lehaf, the charismatic owner of Skandars bar. “I stayed here, and there were journalists sleeping here. Every night under bombing we would think it was our last, and we'd bring all the bottles out onto the bar.”
While Tyre itself was spared most of the violence, by the end of the 34-day conflict the civilian casualty count was way over 1,000. Vast swathes of infrastructure were destroyed, and an estimated hundreds of thousands of unexploded cluster munitions lay indiscriminately scattered across the South.
Since then, in accordance with United Nations Resolution 1701, UNIFIL has upgraded to nearly 15,000 strong. It is deployed with the newly arrived Lebanese Army below the landmark Litani River, and alongside the hundreds of operational foreign de-miners and charity workers. These are the South's current, albeit temporary, main employers, and the source of a considerable cash infusion into its ailing economy.
Daoud, a soft-spoken man in his twenties, worked with the commercial Armor Group until it wrapped up its de-mining operations in Lebanon last December. He and many colleagues at the local Red Cross were snapped up to work as medics on ordnance clearance teams, while hundreds more were recruited for the hazardous work of searching for deadly munitions. They are paid $800 to $1,000 a month, a windfall salary in the South, where average take-home wages otherwise are about the national minimum of $200 a month.
But with a December deadline to finish all cluster munitions clearance, and with only a few companies staying on for further mine removal, most medics and searchers like Daoud will be out of a job.
“I have work, but it's little work,” he says. He has a $350-a-month job as a guard at a national telecommunications company. “Everyone has another job, not just me,” he says. “Mine action is a good job for one year, but people don't give up their original jobs.”
During Tyre's summer weekends, the beachside cabanas are filled with families seeking refuge from the humid heat, while the scantily clad lie poolside at the exclusive Rest House resort. At night Skandars is a perennial favorite for international workers and Lebanese visiting from Beirut or abroad, and packed with bodies drinking and swaying to loud dance music. Others dance energetically elsewhere to Arabic singers on stage, while the many locals who frown on alcohol congregate at the coffee bars.
Outside in the honking traffic, white UN cars tangle with mopeds and pickup trucks. Those too poor to enter a venue sit along the promenade to watch. “The economic situation is linked to the political situation – if the political situation is resolved, then the economy will improve,” says Tyre's mayor, Abdel-Mohsen al-Husseini. “Right now many people are buying just the necessities – if they need water, they will buy one bottle instead of two.”
There is consensus that Hizbullah, with wide support in Tyre, does not want to start a conflict over alcohol, and is instead working to keep the internal peace. Hizbullah's major concern is the multitude of outside threats: the national political unrest, recent attacks on UN peacekeepers and the possibility of another war with Israel are already exacerbating heightened tensions.
For the past two weekends a small group of youths have burned tires in Tyre's streets, in solidarity with Beirut's violent protests over electricity cuts in the southern suburbs. Although co-opted by political parties, the message is resonant in the South where the price of electricity is high. Tyre's severe power cuts can last all day during winter months.
Medhi moved back to Tyre from the US a few years ago to start a seafront cafe serving cake and cappuccinos out of his childhood home. “We have the highest phone costs in the world, the highest electricity costs,” he says. “I pay more for electricity in two months than for all the employees that I have. How do I survive? I don't know – the street is not as good as it looks.”
“The wealth from UNIFIL is not being evenly spread,” Medhi continues. “When I opened my business I had peacekeepers come here, but after the Spanish bombing it stopped.” He pauses thoughtfully. “Where the wealth is spread is with the de-miners. They just took two of my employees. I told them to be careful,” he adds.
Valentine's Day. The third anniversary of the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, several times Prime Minister in Lebanon and generally credited as the driving force behind the reconstruction of the country after the 15 year civil war which ended in 1990. This even has been commemorated with a large gathering in Martyr's Square in Beirut, inspite of heavy rain all day.
Also the day on which the funeral of Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hizbollah official who was assassinated two days ago in Damascus, took place in Beirut.
Given the already tense situation prevailing in Lebanon, the coincidence of the two events in Beirut on the same day has given cause for concern but, so far, no clashes have been reported.