Inauguration of UN housing near devastated Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon

The United Nations agency tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees said today that it had inaugurated 150 new concrete units to house families from a Lebanese camp that was the scene of months of fighting last year between the national army and Fatah el-Islam gunmen.

The new housing near the devastated Nahr El Bared camp lowers pressure on the nearby Beddawi camp, where many refugees had fled the fighting, a spokesperson from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said at a press conference in Geneva.

In the largest undertaking in its history, UNWRA is planning to rebuild the Nahr El Bared camp, which was in essence a complete town of over 30,000 inhabitants before it was destroyed by intense combat between May and September 2007.

The long-term reconstruction will cost around $200 million, the agency said, adding that it will soon announce the date of a pledging conference to support the project.