UNIPATH STAFF
The Lebanese Armed Forces opened a Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) center in May 2018 near Marjayoun, where Soldiers can provide educational, health, environmental and humanitarian assistance to civilians in the southern third of the country.
The center — one of three in the country dedicated to encouraging peace and stability — was built with the support of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the government of Spain.
Lebanese CIMIC Chief Brig. Gen. Elie Abi Rached expressed enthusiasm about working more broadly with UNIFIL peacekeepers.
“We are going to conduct many projects here in southern Lebanon, which will strengthen the relations between the Lebanese Armed Forces and our community here,” the general said during the center’s opening ceremony.
Acting U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Pernille Dahler Kardel said the new center provides proof that Lebanon’s central government was extending its authority over southern Lebanon.
“Initiatives like this have the potential to make a crucial contribution to the preservation of Lebanon’s security, stability and sovereignty,” she said. “The United Nations remains committed to supporting these crucial goals.”
UNIFIL initiated community outreach projects in Lebanon in 2006 and enlisted the Lebanese military in these CIMIC efforts in 2008.
In a little over a decade, UNIFIL has spent $45 million on 3,400 projects. They include providing health clinics, planting trees and distributing book bags to schoolchildren. Source: UNIFIL