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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana;font-weight:bold'>LEBANON: Beirut's glittering downtown
belies poverty in suburbs</span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>21 Mar 2006 08:21:19 GMT</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Source: Reuters<br>
<br>
BEIRUT, 21 March (IRIN) - Beirut's impressive downtown district reflects much
of the wealth and development that Lebanon has enjoyed since the end of the
civil war in 1990. But a few minutes' drive to the capital's southern and
northern fringes reveals a vastly different reality, featuring extreme poverty
and underdevelopment. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><br>
Residents and NGOs working to alleviate poverty put much of the blame for the
shabby condition of the suburbs on government inaction. "We're second
class citizens," said Youssef Hassan, a 48 year-old resident of the
southern suburb of Hay al-Selom. "Officials forget we exist below the
poverty line." </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><br>
Those earning less than Lebanon's monthly minimum wage – 300,000 Lebanese
pounds (roughly US $200) – are generally considered to be living under
the poverty line, according to Sawsan Masri, project manager at the Ministry of
Social Affairs. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><br>
"We have no electricity or paved roads, no health insurance and none of
the essential services that a government should provide its people," said Hassan
who works as a taxi driver to provide for seven dependants. He and his family
have been living in a two-room apartment in Hay al-Selom since they were forced
out of the southern village of Arabsalim by the Israeli occupation 15 years
ago. <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>"I get about 300,000 Lebanese pounds a month from
driving people around," he said. "It barely covers the rent of the
car I'm using and basic needs, like food. We have to buy clothes second-hand
– if not third-hand." </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Hay al-Selom and the suburb of Nabaa, about a 15-minute
drive north of Beirut's city centre, constitute the capital's two main poverty
belts, according to a December 2005 study funded by the World Bank. The study
was conducted by the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR),
set up by the government in 1977. <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>The survey, the aim of which was to identify deprived
areas for future development, classifies these two suburbs as "the most
deprived around Beirut." It goes on to note that poverty on the outskirts
of the capital was "one of the key issues that consecutive governments
have failed to resolve." <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>While relatively affluent neighborhoods nearby have seen a
modicum of reconstruction and development in the last decade, including road
construction, wastewater treatment and electricity projects, such development
has eluded the impoverished areas on the capital's periphery. <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>As a result, the existing situation has led to other
poverty-related crises, including unchecked demographic growth, inadequate
housing, weak socio-economic conditions and health problems. "The lack of
an interactive role by the state in these areas has led to many problems,"
said Ali Bazzi, head of the Social Affairs Ministry's centre in Hay al-Selom. "Sewage
pipes pollute the nearby river and the electricity network doesn't reach all
the houses." </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Residents also complain of frequent power outages and
unsafe drinking water. "We treat many cases of diarrhoea in our clinic
here," said Bazzi. He went on to explain that the centre provided basic
health and social services, but that its resources were not enough to cover the
entire area, which he estimates is home to about 250,000 people. <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>"If it wasn't for the work of volunteers, we wouldn't
have been able to offer half of the services we now provide," Bazzi said.
He added that government officials were unconcerned with the plight of Hay
al-Selom residents because most of them are migrants from rural areas. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><br>
"As migrants, they don't have the right to vote in municipal and
parliamentary elections," said Bazzi. "Officials tend to offer
services to voters in their constituencies." According to the CDR study,
there are only 350 registered voters in Hay al-Selom. <br>
<br>
</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>NGOs, therefore, are hoping to perform the role
traditionally assigned to the state in these areas. Cynthia Aoun, press officer
of Social Movement, a local NGO devoted to poverty alleviation in the capital,
said that aid agencies and political parties were taking on most of the burden
in catering to the needs of area residents. </span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><br>
Aoun's NGO, which has worked in Lebanon for over 40 years, provides social help
for Beirut's poor, focusing mainly on children and education. "But the
work of NGOs cannot – and should not – replace that of the
state," she said, warning that the situation would only worsen in the
absence of government participation.</span></font></p>
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