BEIRUT—Lebanon`s Ministry of the Displaced set 5 April 2015 as the deadline for residents of the Mount Lebanon village of Brih to evacuate homes belonging to Christians who were forced to flee during the 1975–1990 Civil War as part of an ongoing reconciliation effort.
In light of the many complaints with regard to occupied houses by Brih residents in several areas...the ministry decided to set 5 April 2015, as the final day for people occupying houses to evacuate and hand them over to their rightful owners,” Minister Alice Shabtini said in a statement Thursday.
She added that the ministry would inform people who were forced to flee their homes in Brih to visit the ministry to settle their cases and receive compensation.
“The ministry has resolved issues preventing some from returning to Brih and has given compensation to the residents to rebuild their destroyed and damaged homes,” the decision said.
Brih was originally inhabited by both Christians and Druze, but many Christians fled during the 1983 clashes with militias of the predominantly Druze Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) during the civil war. Former Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir made a historic trip to the mountainous region in 2001, initiating reconciliation efforts there.
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai and then-President Michel Sleiman held a ceremony earlier this year in Brih, along with PSP leader Walid Jumblatt, to celebrate the final steps for the reconciliation plan, which would allow Christians to return and claim their property and houses.
Photo: Brih village. Source: Mahmoud Kheir/The Daily Star.
