Tag: Lebanon crisis

Lebanon’s Bread Crisis Persists as Flour Supply Dwindles

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Lebanese bakeries saw massive crowds on June 27 amid news of a looming bread shortage as Lebanon’s currency collapses against the dollar.

Although Lebanese bakers sell bread for the local currency, they must pay for flour in dollars from millers who import wheat from abroad. After the Lebanese pound took yet another dive in value, many in the country fear a shortage in flour, and by extension, bread.

 

The Head of the Union of Bakeries Syndicates, Ali Ibrahim, said bread will no longer be available until bakeries have a solution for their losses.

Pictures of citizens’ queues at the entrances to the bakeries provoked the activists to condemn the government, the ruling political class, and on Hezbollah and the gangs that smuggle flour from Lebanon into Syria.

Protests have engulfed the streets of Lebanon since October 17 in light of the suffocating economic crisis in Lebanon that has left tens of thousands of Lebanese without a source of income. 

Protestors are accusing the political elite of corruption and the inability to find solutions to the country’s crises.

The repercussions of the economic collapse, which is the worst in decades, left no social group unscathed and triggered an unprecedented wave of high prices amid a severe liquidity crisis and the scarcity of the dollar.

The crisis also appears to have led to the emergence of a new market to meet the needs of some poor families. 

The “Lebanon Swaps” Facebook page shows the need for some basic foodstuffs, with some citizens offering to exchange personal and household items for infant formula, cooking oil, or bread.

 

Lebanon’s economic crisis

The crisis has left nearly half of the population living below the poverty line, according to the World Bank, with economic experts expecting the decline of the middle class in a country that was famous for its facilities, services, and creative initiatives of its people.

Since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on February 14, 2005, Lebanon has seen periodic political and economic crises and protests against its sectarian government. 

The first major protest broke out in 2015 when authorities closed the main landfill site near Beirut without arranging an alternative, causing waste to fill the streets and signaling the government’s inability to provide for the basic needs of the Lebanese people.

In 2019, as the economy stagnated and capital inflows slowed, the Lebanese government faced pressure to control an immense budget deficit. Protests erupted again after the government failed to make progress in reforming the economy that would have garnered foreign support and instead taxed the internet. 

Demonstrators accused the government of corruption and economic mismanagement, and Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri resigned as the crisis worsened. A liquidity crunch on hard currency pushed banks to impose tight restrictions on cash withdrawals and transfers abroad.

After years of failed economic policies, Lebanon now shoulders a sovereign debt of more than 170% of its GDP and went into default in March. Talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are ongoing as the local currency continues to drop, losing approximately 70% of its value in a matter of weeks, wreaking havoc on the middle class and plunging the lower class deeper into poverty.

 

Read also: Lebanon Investigating Assassination Attempt on Former PM

Despairing Domestic Workers Dumped at Ethiopian Consulate in Lebanon

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The number of newly unemployed Ethiopian domestic workers camped out the front of the Ethiopian Consulate in Beirut continues to grow. Authorities moved around 35 women into a Caritas shelter on June 5 after some spent up to two weeks camped on the concrete outside the consulate. 

As Lebanon’s economic crisis persists, more workers are being dumped on a daily basis by employers who can no longer afford them.  

A dejected-looking young woman named Lomi, hauling a large black suitcase, is the latest discarded Ethiopian domestic worker to join the growing ranks of mostly women calling for repatriation. The 20-year-old came to Lebanon a year ago to work and support her family, but her employer threw her out on Monday without her passport after she asked for the four months wages they owed her. 

Instead of paying up, they bundled Lomi and her big black suitcase into a cab bound for the Ethiopian Consulate, which suspended services on June 3 without explanation.

“What’s going to happen with me tomorrow or after tomorrow?” Lomi told Al Arabiya. “What can I do, where can I go? What am I going to eat and drink? Where is my money from the last four months?” the young woman asked, in tears.  

Employers unable or unwilling to pay wages have decided to leave their ex-employees in the hands of the Ethiopian Consulate instead of paying for a commercial plane ticket worth around $680 and the mandatory two-week COVID-19 quarantine hotel stay upon arrival in Ethiopia. The workers, many without passports and no longer with the legal right to reside or work in Lebanon, are now in danger of being penalized by Lebanese authorities. 

The more pressing issue for women like Lomi is their lack of shelter, money, and food. Unable to afford flights or find a new job due to the restrictions of Lebanon’s kafala (sponsorship) system, there is no clear path for these women to return home or find new jobs in Lebanon. 

“You see these ones? They brought them today with their bags,” said Hanna Tadasa, who herself has been unemployed in six months, pointing to a row of new arrivals at the Beirut consulate.  

“Madame, my dear, you have parents. [These women] also have parents in their country. Don’t bring them and throw them outside. Shame on you. We are humans,” was Tadasa’s message for other Lebanese employers thinking of dumping their staff. 

Blame game  

The Ethiopian Consulate and Department of Foreign Affairs have remained quiet on the issue and now ceased service provision, adding to the abandoned workers’ sense of uncertainty and helplessness. 

“Every day they tell us come back on Monday, and when Monday comes there’s nothing,” Tadasa explained. “I want to travel to my country and live in dignity with my family.”

The consulate’s head of communications, Befirde Dengela, broke the silence on Sunday  and decried the dumping of workers. According to Dengela, the consulate was forced to close over security concerns as some women “got rowdy” and attacked diplomats, a claim the women deny.  

“The employers are to blame. They can’t just throw them out here when they can’t afford to pay,” Dengela told African publication the Mail & Guardian on June 7. 

“We have repeatedly asked Lebanese authorities to intervene and hold these employers who abandon these women accountable. But they are slow to do so,” the senior Ethiopian diplomat added.  

The high cost of plane tickets and mandatory quarantine mean that although workers desperately want to be repatriated, it is essentially impossible. Lebanese authorities have entered into the blame game, saying they have done what they can for the workers but “the ball is in the playground of Ethiopia.” 

“Lebanon’s economy has been hit hard. We did what we could to facilitate the return of these women to Ethiopia by lifting the fines that undocumented migrants would normally be charged,” according to Khazaal. “But Ethiopia refuses to evacuate its citizens.” 

As the economic situation in Lebanon shows no signs of improvement, and Ethiopian women continue to either be dumped or flee their current employment situation, the future for them looks bleak. The Ethiopian and Lebanese authorities’ attempts to shift the blame are doing little for the women who are now homeless and hungry, far from home, and with no real hope of repatriation.

Read also: Outcry after Lebanese Facebook Group User Puts Nigerian Domestic Worker Up for Sale

 

 

Tensions Ease in Lebanon After Weekend of Sectarian Clashes

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On Saturday, protesters in Lebanon returned to the streets for the first time since the country lifted COVID-19 restrictions. 

What started as peaceful marches protesting the country’s economic crisis, fuelled by endemic corruption, descended into worrying sectarian clashes decried by Lebanese politicians, religious leaders, and the army as a “dangerous ordeal” planned by certain factions. 

The country’s leaders unanimously condemned the slip into sectarianism, and invoked memories of Lebanon’s bloody civil war to warn against further aggression.

Leaders Condemn Saturday’s Violence 

The Army Command released a statement on Sunday calling the Sunni-Shia violence a “dangerous ordeal” and warning Lebanese citizens “against being dragged into strife.” It reported 25 soldiers were injured on Saturday, and vowed to “preserve civil peace and protect national unity.” 

Calls for disarmament for Iranian-backed Hezbollah appeared to trigger sectarian violence after some counter-demonstrators insulted the Prophet Mohammed’s wife Aisha and other historic Sunni figures, inflaming Sunni-Shia tensions.  

The military and security services intervened to prevent Hezbollah and Amal counter-demonstrators clashing with protestors in downtown Beirut, but gunfire and scuffles broke out in neighborhoods across the capital.  

Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri used colourful language to decry the events, declaring the sectarian violence “a strife that is more severe than killing!” 

“Cursed be the one who awakens it, so beware of falling into its furnaces, for it will spare no one,” Berri chastised, while also condemning insults against Islamic or Christian symbols or sacred places. 

On Monday, Interior Minister Mohamed Fahmi announced the violence had been “intentional and premeditated,” and required further investigation.  

“We had strong indicators that a fifth column could interfere in the demonstrations to trigger tension and sedition, and this is exactly what happened,” Fahmi told Lebanese daily al-Joumhouria on June 8. 

“It is inadmissible to trigger sectarian strife, no matter what it costs,” said the interior minister, who has also backed up the military’s assurances the situation is now under control. 

“Saturday’s incidents were a big shock to all political parties who must join efforts to protect the country. What happened has dangerously stirred strife and sedition, putting the fate of the nation and Lebanese at stake,” unnamed political sources also told al-Joumhouria. 

Protest Movement’s Future Endangered? 

Hezbollah supporters, who planned to protest US interference in Lebanese politics by demonstrating outside the US Embassy in Beirut on Sunday, abandoned the demonstration in the wake of Saturday’s unrest. Political commentators were quick to defend the protest movement, telling Arab News it will push ahead despite Saturday’s events.  

“Indeed, people are repulsed by what happened, but it will not prevent them from taking to the streets again to demand their rights,” commentator and public affairs academic Dr. Ziad Abdel Samad told Arab News on June 7.

“What happened on Saturday will not eliminate the civil movement, which is committed to its demands and to pressuring for the reestablishment of the authority by forming a government with powers that allow it to draft a new electoral law, as happened in Tunisia.”

A report from Brussels think-tank the International Crisis Group (ICG) agreed that the protest movement is critical and must continue to exert pressure on the government and elite to institute reform.

The June 8 ICG report states that “the current Lebanese government, and any government that may follow it, will have to carry out substantial structural and institutional reform to put the country’s fiscal and economic system back on a sound footing.”

“To succeed, such structural change will have to put an end to the political model in which corrupt and self-serving cliques appropriate and redistribute state resources and public goods,” the report added. 

It is, however, highly unlikely the Lebanese elite, who have grown rich on the current status quo of corruption and wildly unbalanced wealth distribution, will pragmatically put their own interest aside in order to save Lebanon from economic collapse.  

“It is very hard to imagine that they (Lebanon’s ruling elite and political class) will do so unless the Lebanese who have gone into the streets since October 2019 find ways to exert sustained pressure on the country’s political institutions,” the report concluded. 

Disarmament Calls and Government Stability 

It is not the first time protestors have called for Hezoballah to disarm, and political commentators remain divided about what really triggered the weekend violence. Some argue it signals a new stage of the protests, while others believe it is the beginning of the end for Hassan Diab’s government. 

Public affairs expert and activist Dr. Walid Fakhreddin believes the sectarian strife is symptomatic of the Diab government’s impending decline.  

“Hezbollah previously caused such tensions four or five times since the protests started on Oct. 17. However, this is the first time this happened under the government of Hassan Diab. This means that Diab’s government is in crisis, and this is Hezbollah’s way (of operating) when it does not want a government to continue,” Fakhreddin explained on June 7. 

According to Fakhreddin, “no one is ready to stand up to Hezbollah” and demand disarmament, while the current government “is unable to continue and will not manage to obtain funds to prevent economic collapse.”

“What happened is new. It is not an extension of Oct. 17, but rather it will mark the start of a new stage,” says political analyst Ghassan Hajjar. He agrees that Hezbollah is feeling the heat of disarmament calls, but argues it will not topple Diab’s government unless it receives assurance that former Prime Minister Saad Hariri will be reinstated.  

“No one won on Saturday — not the government, the Hezbollah nor the protesters. Everyone lost,” Hajjar concluded, a sentiment shared by many in Lebanon at present. 

It appears that for the time being, the shock of sectarian clashes on Saturday and united condemnation from Lebanon’s political, religious, and military leaders has quelled Sunni-Shia tension. The painful memories of civil war seem to have given actors across Lebanon’s political and religious spectrum a wake up call and timely reminder that sectarian violence comes at a dangerous cost. 

As the country plunges ever-deeper into the economic abyss, political control and stability become increasingly fragile. It remains to be seen if some actors in Lebanon’s fractious political scene will use that weakness to grab power, by any means, regardless of the cost. 

Read also: Fueled by Sectarian Clashes, Protests Reignite in Lebanon

Fueled by Sectarian Clashes, Protests Reignite in Lebanon

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Protesters in Lebanon returned to the streets on Saturday as COVID-19 curbs eased, but demonstrations turned violent off the back of sectarian clashes and calls for Hezbollah to disarm.  

The protests that engulfed Lebanon from the end of October until the COVID-19 outbreak hit in mid-March returned with a vengeance on June 6. Lebanese people returned to the streets, gathering in Martys Square in downtown Beirut after the easing of coronavirus curbs.

Demonstrators, many wearing masks, began peacefully protesting the country’s economic collapse, endemic corruption, and lack of government services, while some called for the disarmament of militia group Hezbollah. 

“We came on the streets to demand our rights, call for medical care, education, jobs, and the basic rights that human beings need to stay alive,” 21-year-old student Christina told the French Press Agency (AFP).

The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated Lebanon’s economic and social decline, pushing unemployment to 35% and the poverty rate to 45%, according to government figures. The country is also in the grips of a currency crisis, and the Lebanese pound has fallen from an exchange rate of 1,507 to more than 4,000 pounds to the dollar, causing inflation to skyrocket.

Some protestors clashed with police, throwing stones, setting fire to rubbish bins, and looting luxury shops in the city center. Anti-riot police hit back with tear gas, injuring 48 protestors and hospitalizing 11, the Lebanese Red Cross reports.  

Sectarian clashes 

Calls for Iranian-backed Hezbollah to be disarmed triggered sectarian violence after some counter-demonstrators insulted the Prophet Mohammed’s wife Aisha and other historic Sunni figures, inflaming Sunni-Shia tensions.  

The military and riot police held back Hezbollah and Amal counter-demonstrators who gathered near downtown Beirut to clash with protestors calling for disarmament. As security forces dispersed the main protest, Shia Hezbollah and Amal supporters taunted protestors in Sunni neighborhoods around the capital and in regional cities such as Tripoli and Sidon. 

Clashes between Sunni-Shia protests and counter-demonstrators went viral on Lebanese social media, and gunfire rang out in some Beirut suburbs. The police and military were deployed to ensure calm and Lebanese religious and political leaders were united in calling for peace.

The top Sunni religious authority, Dar al-Fatwa, warned the faithful of “falling into the trap of sectarian strife.”

“The cursing of Sayyida Aisha can only come from an ignorant person who should be enlightened,” Dar al-Fatwa said in a statement.

“I appeal to all countrymen in all regions to follow the call of Dar al-Fatwa and warn the Muslim public against falling into the trap of sectarian strife,” former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said in a statement, reiterating Dar al-Fatwa’s entreaty. 

Current Prime Minister Hassan Diab joined the chorus of voices denouncing the Sunni-Shia clashes and the use of religious slogans on Twitter.  

“The prime minister condemns and denounces in the strongest terms, all sectarian slogans … and calls on all Lebanese and their political and spiritual leaders to exercise awareness and wisdom and cooperate with the Army and security services,” he wrote.  

It remains to be seen if protestors will heed the leaders’ warnings or if Lebanon will experience another night of violence Sunday evening.

Read also: Foreign Powers Call for Reforms Before Delivering Aid to Lebanon

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