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Refugees – 1997

IDP Global Database cites UNDP (1997) that the majority of the displaced population was from Mount Lebanon (about 62%) and 52.7% of those displaced arrived in that governate.¹ But a vast majority of displaced persons still had yet to return and reclaim their property.

1998: Problems of resettlement of displaced remained. A vast majority of displaced persons had yet to return and reclaim their property.

1999: Problems of resettlement of displaced remained. A vast majority of displaced persons had yet to return and reclaim their property.

By establishing the Ministry of Displaced Persons and the Central Fund of the Displaced, the government tried to implement the provisions of the Taif accord but fell short of rehabilitating damaged infrastructure and providing security. Ten years after signing of the accord, its provisions had not been fully implemented. According to the IDP Global Database (2001), the Lebanese government estimated that $400m was needed to cover the return of all the displaced in Lebanon. However between 1991 and 1999, $800 million was spent and about 20 percent of the displaced were able to return to their villages. “Only nine percent of those who returned were fully reimbursed for their expenditure on house reconstruction, the great majority of returnees having to pay for reconstruction from private funds. Overt mismanagement and embezzlement of funds led to tension between the former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, the parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri and the Minister for the Displaced.”²

1. “Profile of Internal Displacement: Lebanon,” 17.
2. Ibid.