Deadly Clashes in Palestinian Camp in Lebanon
Several days of clashes between political factions in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon have left at least eight people dead.
After weeks of sporadic fighting, major battles broke out on April 7 in the Ein el-Hilweh camp between followers of Islamist leader Bilal Badr and Palestinian security forces from Fatah and other major factions. Dozens have fled the fighting in the camp, according to Lebanon’s Daily Star.
The violence also spilled over into the city of Sidon. The main government hospital in the city was struck by a rocket, while a four-year-old boy hit by sniper fire was among approximately 40 wounded. The government ordered schools in Sidon closed due to the security situation.
Lebanese troops, who usually refrain from entering the camp under an agreement with the Palestinian leadership, surrounded the area.
Palestinian factions in the camp have demanded Badr, who is wanted by Lebanese authorities, turn himself in, but his followers are fending off efforts to apprehend him by force.
Argentina to Give 1,000 University Scholarships to Refugees
Argentina plans to grant university scholarships to 1,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years.
Minister of Education Esteban Bullrich announced the program at the World Economic Forum for Latin America in Buenos Aires, which was developed with U.S.-based nonprofit Blue Rose Compass.
The first group of 20 students will be selected from Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan for scholarships in Buenos Aires. The program will later expand to other areas. Scholars will receive intensive Spanish courses and lone women will be offered host families, Blue Rose Compass said.
Bullrich said Argentina would also introduce a humanitarian visa giving refugees a path to permanent residency. The country pledged last year to admit 3,000 Syrian refugees; several hundred have arrived so far.
Australia ‘Working to Solutions’ for Detainees Not Settled in U.S.
Australia’s leaders have insisted that asylum seekers in its offshore camps who are not relocated to the U.S. will never be allowed to come to Australia.
On a visit to Papua New Guinea, Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Obama-era deal to resettle an undetermined number of refugees in the U.S. was proceeding well.
He was less clear on what would happen to those rejected by U.S. officials. Australia says the camp will close this year after Papua New Guinea’s high court ruled the Australian-run detention center unconstitutional.
“We are working to solutions, endurable solutions, of people who have been detained here and Nauru,” Turnbull said. “Working with third countries, most notably, of course, the United States, to that regard. We’ll take this process one step at a time.”
Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton said asylum seekers rejected by the U.S. will have to remain in Papua New Guinea or return home. “The advocates can bleat all they want, they can protest all they want,” he said. “We have been very clear those people are not going to settle in our country because that would restart the people trade.”