Syrian refugee returns stymied by insistence on political solution: Aoun

Griffin and Fiore in Lebanon - what's going on here ?

President Michel Aoun told members of a far-right European party that efforts are underway to secure the safe return of Syrian refugees to their home country, but that they are being stymied by the international community’s insistence on a political solution to the Syrian crisis.

The remarks came during a meeting with members of the European Parliament who belong to the Alliance for Peace and Freedom, a far-right pan-European party whose members include representatives from the neo-fascist Greek Golden Dawn movement and the neo-Nazi German National Democratic Party.

Aoun told the members that any aid stemming from funds pledged to refugees should not be made available to them while they remain in their host countries. He said it should instead be distributed to them only upon their going back to Syria to incentivize their return.

Roberto Fiore, the alliance’s president, who attended the meeting, told the president that his delegation worried about the refugee crisis, and that “everyone ... especially the European Union” must find a solution to it, according to tweets from the Lebanese presidency.

On Thursday, international donors at the three-day Brussels III conference pledged about $7 billion in aid for refugees who have fled the war-ravaged country. Prime Minister Saad Hariri had appealed to the international community for about $2.6 billion in funding for Lebanon, though how much of the $7 billion the country will receive has not yet been made clear.

Some Lebanese officials estimate that around 1.5 million Syrian refugees are in the country, and say they are straining Lebanon’s flagging economy and frail infrastructure.

The insistence on a political solution to the Syrian conflict before widespread returns take place is not the concern of the international community alone. Internally, one of the central points of contention surrounding the refugee returns has been whether Lebanon should fully reestablish ties with Damascus to orchestrate them.

Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement, which he founded, along with Hezbollah and their allies, have supported normalizing ties and coordination with Syria to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees to their country. The Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive Socialist Party have staunchly opposed direct contacts with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime until a solution to the conflict has been reached.
https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2019/Mar-15/478915-refugee-return-efforts-stymied-by-insistence-on-political-solution-aoun.ashx

NWN: Why of why do these people still drag Nick Griffin to these functions/events ? Griffins record of dishonesty especially where money is concerned, rank incompetence, and deliberate destruction of UK nationalist parties is surely public knowledge ? A clue here might be that his 'mate' Roberto Fiore is also there. Griffin has been mates with Fiore since the 1980's. When Griffin was wandering off to the 'Third Way' and other esoteric nonsense, including running off to Libya and General Gaddafi in the search for an alternative amount of BS to ruin the National Front in the UK. How is this possible to keep inviting  Griffin, a man who falls out with everyone - eventually, and usually sooner rather than later ? We really do despair of some of the folk still seemingly in charge of 'events' in nationalism.