A challenging recovery

The World Food Programme's executive director tells Dina Ezzat about the challenges ahead for Lebanon and the region

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James Morris

In Cairo this week to attend an Arab League meeting where he appealed for emergency donations to help Lebanon, James Morris, executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), sounded upbeat about the ability of Lebanon to overcome the damage sustained by the latest war but insisted that the road towards reconstruction and nutrition sufficiency is not going to be easy.

In interview with Al-Ahram Weekly, as in a statement addressed to Arab finance ministers Monday, Morris lamented that, "Lebanon had no need of food aid before this latest conflict that erupted in July ... But suddenly hundreds of thousands of people, especially women and children who absolutely had no part in making the circumstances they are in, were in need of urgent aid."

While promising that his organisation has done all it could to provide the maximum aid possible to the Lebanese people, especially in the south, Morris admitted that the WFP had at times to interrupt its operations, despite the dedication of its staff on the ground, simply because a go-ahead to convoys was not made.

Morris steered clear from making reference to Israel or to the fact that it was the Israeli army that compounded the misery of Lebanese people, especially in the south, when it declared it would fire on any moving vehicles, thus putting many humanitarian operations on hold.

Speaking to the Weekly hours before a planned visit to Lebanon Tuesday, Morris was hopeful that these complications are now in the past. The WFP, he hopes, can now act and move freely, "after having informed all the parties", to deliver food aid to over 300,000 Lebanese "who are trying to make their way home but who are surely in need of direct aid for a while".

Morris estimates that his organisation needs a budget of at least $60 million for its operation in Lebanon. He is confident that finances will not be a problem since he already has over one half of this amount thanks to the "generous" donations of many Arab and Western countries.

Shifting gears rather eagerly from the issue of finances, Morris appears more concerned with the safety of his staff, both international and national, in the case of an eruption of hostilities, given the fragile nature of the present truce. "We are hopeful that the ceasefire will hold, but we will also have to worry about the safety of our staff," he said.

The worst threats to the staff of WFP, and other humanitarians working on the ground in south Lebanon, now are similar to those confronting the Lebanese in most of the south: unexploded cluster bombs and mines, maps for which Israel has so far refused to hand over.

Morris seemed to have no concerns over Hizbullah. He did insist that his organisation would only work with governmental bodies and municipal councils.

Morris admits that the politics of the situation in Lebanon and the region in general are complicated at this point in time but insists that in the line of humanitarian duty he sets aside politics. "We are an apolitical organisation. We insist to operate and be perceived as such," he said in response to questioning as to what he would do if caught between Hizbullah fighters and Israeli soldiers who have not yet pulled out of South Lebanon.

Morris has faith that the Lebanese will quickly recover from the devastation of this war. His organisation, he indicated, has already revised downward its funding requirements and is hoping to be able to exit Lebanon by the end of the year. Morris said that he is hopeful that a prompt end to the blockade imposed on Lebanon by Israel would greatly enhance the flow of humanitarian aid and would help the Lebanese to reactivate their agricultural activities and food industry.

Lebanon, Morris said, has been an unexpected problem that has taken attention -- and to some extent resources -- away from other trouble spots across the Middle East, especially Gaza where he says that the situation is "very, very serious".

Again, without making direct reference to the Israeli blockade on crossing points into the occupied Palestinian territories, Morris said that he is "hoping" that the situation will soon be less problematic than it has been. "The crossings are always a challenge," Morris said. "Given the high unemployment and the [restrictions imposed] on fishing and the [scarcity of] water, electricity and seeds availability, Gaza could be in very tough circumstances," Morris said with an unmistakable sense of worry.

For Morris, Gaza might be one of the worst concerns, but the West Bank is also a concern, as is Iraq, where bloodshed seems to escalate by the day, Somalia, where peace is elusive, and Darfur, which Kofi Annan named the worst humanitarian disaster in the present world.

"A human life in these conflict areas is as precious as a human life in any other part of the world. This is why everything has to be done to end conflicts and to save lives," Morris said.