BRUSSELS: The UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees said on Thursday it needed $1.2 billion in funding for 2019 as it faced its first full year without US support.
Pierre Kraehenbuehl, who heads the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinians across the Middle East, said it had had to turn to countries as poor as Afghanistan last year for help after Washington withdrew its funding in August.
“There is no US funding for the first time and no indication that they are reconsidering,” he told Reuters on the margins of a donors conference for Syria.
“I can’t think of a time, even in the 1950s, 60s or 70s, when we were without the US ... they built schools, health centers and that is very important to recognize,” Kraehenbuehl said.
Washington’s decision to pull all funding further heightened tensions between the Palestinian leadership and the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Trump at the time cited US and Israeli criticism of UNRWA’s method of counting people as refugees — which they say has created a growing number of agency beneficiaries.
UNRWA provides services to about 5 million Palestinian refugees across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank and Gaza. Most are descendants of about 700,000 Palestinians who were driven out of their homes or fled fighting in the 1948 war that led to Israel’s creation.
Gulf states, Norway, Turkey, Japan and Canada stepped in with funding last year, while Afghanistan donated $1 million, Kraehenbuehl said.
He said it was unlikely that all donors would give the same amounts again this year, putting an increased burden on Europe.
Kraehenbuehl said Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and the resulting tensions with the Palestinians, had prompted the US to halt funding to UNRWA.
Kraehenbuehl warned of the risks to 280,000 school children in Gaza who depend on the UN agency.
“Where do they go if they no longer have access to UNRWA education? What happens? We know: the levels of frustration (in the region) will grow,” he said.
“It is crucial to keep children in school to have a personal horizon in the absence of a political horizon,” he said, referring to the stalled Middle East peace process.
Washington’s peace efforts are being led by Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law. Kraehenbuehl said he had not been consulted in drawing up the strategy, which has yet to be made public.
UN Palestinian aid faces funding battle without US help
UN Palestinian aid faces funding battle without US help
- Washington’s decision to pull all funding further heightened tensions between the Palestinian leadership and the administration of US President Donald Trump
- Trump at the time cited US and Israeli criticism of UNRWA’s method of counting people as refugees — which they say has created a growing number of agency beneficiaries
Lebanon central bank seeks to recuperate embezzled funds to bolster liquidity, governor says
- The central bank had filed a criminal complaint against an unnamed former official of the central bank
- Souaid said the bank would become a primary plaintiff in the state’s investigation against Forry Associates
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s central bank will seek the repayment of public funds embezzled by at least one former central bank official and by lawyers and commercial bankers, to help guarantee its liquidity, Central Bank Governor Karim Souaid said on Thursday.
Souaid did not name Riad Salameh, the former central bank governor whose 30-year term ended in disgrace amid investigations into whether he embezzled more than $300 million between 2002 and 2015.
Instead Souaid told reporters that the central bank had filed a criminal complaint against an unnamed former official of the central bank, a former banker and a lawyer over alleged illicit enrichment through misuse of public funds.
He said the operations were carried out through four offshore shell companies in the Cayman Islands that he did not name.
COORDINATING WITH FRENCH INVESTIGATORS
Souaid said the bank would become a primary plaintiff in the state’s investigation against Forry Associates, suspected of receiving commissions from commercial banks and transferring them out of the country.
Forry is controlled by Salameh’s brother, Raja. Both Raja and Riad Salameh deny wrongdoing.
The pair are under investigation in France, Germany, Switzerland and other countries over the alleged embezzlement. Souaid said he would travel to France to meet with the investigators this month “to exchange highly sensitive information held by the French authorities.”
Souaid would not say how many people in total were suspected of involvement in the scheme or the full sum now thought to have been embezzled.
“Our mission is to pursue these individuals and entities, seek their conviction, and seize their movable and immovable assets and the proceeds of their illicit activities to ensure liquidity for the rightful owners, first and foremost the depositors,” he said.
A Lebanese source familiar with the central bank’s new measures said they were prompted by lots of evidence — both new material uncovered in the central bank’s records and other evidence made available from external investigators.
The source said the bank’s leadership suspected Salameh was aided in his scheme by other members of the institution.
Salameh was detained for nearly 13 months over the alleged financial crimes committed during his tenure, and was released last September after posting a record bail of more than $14 million.
He remains in Lebanon under a travel ban.
