Lebanon Envoy: No Link between Sweden Expulsions, Refugee Crisis

Local Editor

Lebanon's Ambassador to Sweden Ali Ajami said there is no relation between the possible deportation of dozens of Lebanese families from Sweden with the country's attempts to host more Syrian refugees.

In an interview with the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar published Tuesday, Ajami said that Stockholm's plans to expel Lebanese nationals are not aimed at targeting Lebanon.

Ajami seemed to be downplaying reports, which circulated earlier this year, that Sweden and Finland had decided to deport up to 100,000 immigrant workers who had been living in their countries for many years to make room for Syrian refugees.

Ajami said that Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil was informed during his last visit to Sweden earlier this year that "43,000 immigration requests to Sweden had been rejected."

The ambassador, who is expected to meet with Lebanese families Tuesday, said the embassy has yet to receive the "file from the Swedish Migration Agency."

"There is a certain mechanism in these cases, whereby the Migration Agency sends a decision from the court to the embassy to study it and then [the embassy] sends it to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry," Ajami said.

"The Foreign Ministry then transfers the file to General Security, which studies the decision and issues passports so that they can return to Lebanon. However, this mechanism has not begun until today."

Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi threatened Monday to expel Swedes working in Lebanon if Stockholm followed through with its reported plans to deport dozens of Lebanese families.

Bassil last week sent a message to his Swedish counterpart, Margot Wallstrom, warning that the matter of Lebanese being deported would have a negative impact on both nations.

Bassil called on Sweden to take into consideration the number of refugees Lebanon is hosting. "The Swedish government should also realize that the reason so many Lebanese were forced to emigrate was because of regional and local instability," the minister said.

Lebanon hosts the highest number of refugees in the world when measured per capita. There are more than 1 million Syrians registered with UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency for Syrians, in the country.

About another 450,000 Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA, the refugee agency for Palestinians, in Lebanon.

In addition to the Syrian and Palestinian refugees, around another 30,000 Iraqi refugees are sheltering in Lebanon, according to the UN.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team