Fabrizio Carboni, in charge of the Middle East at the ICRC, is concerned about the vulnerability of the populations in Syria and Lebanon, two countries with an economic marasm.
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Fabrizio Carboni, the Director for the Middle East of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), has completed, Friday, October 15, a visit to Beirut. In an interview with Le Monde, it is alarmed with the vulnerability of the people of Lebanon and Syria to the ray of infrastructure and the economic marasm affecting these two countries.
After murderer clashes to Beirut, Thursday, October 14, some fear a return to war. Do you share this fear?
The Lebanon of Syria can not be separated, nor from the situation in the region, which has experienced an orgy of violence over the last ten years. Lebanon has absorbed part of the consequences of the Syrian conflict: the massive presence of refugees, the stakes related to sanctions [against Syria]. In systemic crisis, the country did not solve its political problems: several peaks of violence have taken place since the civil war [1975-1990].
Lebanese have been living a permanent crisis for more than ten years. In the last two years [since the outbreak of the financial crisis] have been the peak of this disaster. In the hyper fragility that Lebanon knows, rashes of violence are unfortunately predictable. We hope they will be contained. But we do not see how the Lebanese daily can improve. We are talking about basic things: access to water, electricity, health, be able to send children to school …
What signs of this disaster hit you the most?
In Hamra [Where is the ICRC delegation], we see a widespread dislightening, beggars, closed stores, streets immersed in the evening in the evening, while it was one of the most alive neighborhoods From Beirut. Visually it’s shocking.
As a humanitarian player, we do not have the ability to cope with the financial crisis, which is why people have lost their savings, and the country is short of fuels … we have to rethink Our mode of operation to focus on support for services. One of our priorities is to ensure that public hospitals can work. In Lebanon, these are traditionally the last resort, because people will be treated in priority in the private.
But with the crisis, it changes: at the Rafic-Hariri Public Hospital [the main public health structure of Beirut], the number of Lebanese increases. Before, the majority of patients were Syrian refugees and migrants. We work hand in hand with the hospital team. They have been supported for five years: infrastructure, medical service, patient care. The challenge is huge: impairment of the wages of medical staff, shortages … But, in the marasm, there is a little light: during the CVIV-19 crisis, the Hariri hospital, which ended up first line, knew how to face.
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