Interview with UN spokesman Khaled Mansour

It took until the 30th day of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah for a United Nations resolution to be agreed upon. Resolution 1701 was unanimously adopted by the UN Security Council on Friday, unanimously approved by the Lebanese Cabinet (which includes two Hezbollah ministers) on Saturday and received a majority vote of approval by the Israeli cabinet on Sunday. While Hezbollah has expressed reservations over some points of the resolution, it has accepted its call for an immediate cessation of hostilities. The priority of the resolution was to bring about a full ‘cessation of hostilities’ between Israel and the armed wing of the Lebanese political party Hezbollah. This happened at 8 a.m. Lebanon time on Monday. Relief agencies hope this will give them an opportunity to bring aid to hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Lebanon. IRIN spoke to Khaled Mansour, the UN’s chief spokesman in Lebanon, about the humanitarian problems that Lebanon has faced as a result of this conflict. QUESTION: What are the main challenges facing the Lebanese population, particularly in light of the UN call for a cessation of hostilities? ANSWER: I think the problems the Lebanese face today are largely centred on issues of safety and security, while there is much anticipation as to what might happen over the next few days. With a cessation of hostilities we hope to see displaced people return to their home towns and start to rebuild their lives from the rubble. With no more aerial bombardments, it would be possible for fuel to come into the country. And humanitarian organisations will finally be able to access tens of thousands of people living south of the Litani River. Q: Have UN convoys been targeted prior to this resolution being approved? A: UN convoys have not been targeted. However, they have not been given the green light, particularly by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), to move at all. On 12 August, the only remaining international road linking Syria and Lebanon was bombed, for instance, so for the whole day we were unable to transport any supplies into the country. Q: Under such pressure, how have humanitarian staff managed to overcome the challenges? A: One colleague put it very succinctly when he said that it feels like we’re moving in a minefield. One moment we’re told we can move and bring convoys into areas where they are needed, and the next we’re told not to move at all. For the past four days we haven’t been able to send any humanitarian aid convoys to the south at all. We know of villages that have been running out of food and of others where people have been drinking dirty water. In one village in south Lebanon, we experienced a small victory when the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was able to provide fuel for villagers to pump water from a well. Q: How many people are estimated to be in south Lebanon at present? A: There are approximately 100,000, most of them in places such as Tyre and Rmeish. Many villages have become totally deserted, such as Qana. A good number of the 750,000 internally displaced people come from the south, but many also originate from the southern suburbs of Beirut, which is also almost deserted now. Q: What are the main needs in the south? A: Medicines, water and food are major needs in the south. But I insist that the first priority for people in the south is that of safety and security, for it may well solve all their problems. Q: How much UN aid has been sent in to Lebanon since the start of the conflict? A: I cannot give you an exact figure, but I know that at least 650 tons of food were sent south of the Litani, as well as another 650 tons of medicine and shelter and hygiene supplies. We must also remember that many non-governmental humanitarian organisations have been doing much more. Q: With a cessation of hostilities in place, what will happen to the thousands of people who have been driven from their homes? A: They want to go back. Until they do, we will have to work on meeting their shelter needs. Public spaces in Beirut have so far provided temporary refuge to the largest number of displaced people, but they have been exhausted. There are no more schools or public parks left where they can find shelter. The problem was further exacerbated some days ago when the Israelis threatened to bomb three areas of southern Beirut – Shiah, Hayy Sillom and Burj Barajneh – where many people had found temporary shelter. Many thousands of people left these areas, many of them displaced for the second time. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] is working in tandem with the Lebanese government to build a shelter for the displaced in Beirut. There is also the potential problem of food. Bear in mind that the majority of the displaced left with nothing but the clothes they had on, and their cars if they were lucky. Think of any normal person’s needs for a day, and that is what the displaced are by default lacking. Q: Would you say that there are health concerns among the displaced? A: So far there have been no epidemics, which would be the most immediate danger, given that they are for the most part living in unsanitary conditions. The UN Children’s Fund [Unicef] started a vaccination campaign for polio and measles. Food is not, at present, a major issue. However, if the conflict continued, the dangers would multiply. Schools would have to reopen for the approaching new school year, while conditions in the public spaces where the displaced are living are not sustainable given a lack of kitchens and proper hygiene facilities. Those who cannot return immediately will have to be provided with better shelter. Q: How long do you envisage it will take for the humanitarian crisis to be brought under control? A: With a cessation of hostilities in place, the most pressing issues of the humanitarian crisis will disappear. There will be access, and people can move freely in and out of the south. It is then that Lebanon will face the bigger challenges. There are thousands of homes that have been razed, power stations that have to be rebuilt, hospitals that need to be repaired. It will be a mammoth task that will require the support of the international community, which the UN Security Council resolution [1701] actually calls for. However, Lebanon’s problems will no longer be an issue of life and death. It will be an issue of people rebuilding their lives from scratch. That’s very hard but not terminal. SA/ED/CB