Donors Offer $20m for Palestinian Camp Refugees

BEIRUT - International donors pledged about $20 million on Monday to help Palestinian refugees made homeless by a 15-week battle between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants holed up inside their refugee camp.

The Nahr al-Bared camp was home to about 40,000 before fighting erupted on May 20 but is now largely destroyed. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called a donors' conference to seek funds to reconstruct the camp in north Lebanon.

The amount pledged fell well short of estimates of what was needed to cover the costs of adequate relief for the refugees, the reconstruction of the camp and help for nearby municipalities.

The government estimated the total required at $382.5 million.

The United States led pledges with $10 million. Germany offered 4 million euros ($5.52 million), Norway 10 million crowns ($1.81 million) and Italy about 2 million euros.

Most other countries refrained from setting specific amounts. Saudi Arabia had pledged $12 million during the fighting and the United Arab Emirates pledged $5 million.

UNRWA, the U.N. agency which cares for Palestinian refugees, said it needed $55 million "to fund the first year of rehabilitation and emergency assistance to refugees from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp".

Hoda Elturk, UNRWA spokeswoman, said: "We are very happy with the response of the donors and we are expecting more pledges to come."

The government's estimate includes UNRWA's $55 million request, $249 million for rebuilding the camp and $78.5 million for the nearby municipalities and compensation for those affected in the surrounding areas.

Most of the refugees fled to the nearby Beddawi camp in the early days of the fighting and are not expected to return to Nahr al-Bared soon. Most of its buildings are in ruins and the camp is littered with landmines.

The fighting at Nahr al-Bared killed more than 400 people and was Lebanon's worst internal violence since the civil war ended 17 years ago.