Controversial politician credits his efforts
Batroun..a Lebanese beach city that is immune to economic collapse
Gebran Bassil was subjected to US sanctions.
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Batroun is distinguished by its beautiful architecture.
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When the UN Special Rapporteur on Poverty, Olivier de Chatter, visited Tripoli;
The second city of Lebanon, on a fact-finding mission, met a woman who told him that her condition was very bad, and that she wished she was an animal.
A 30-minute drive south, on the coastal road, cafe and restaurant workers in the thriving beach town of Batroun were preparing a specialty brew, in anticipation of a busy weekend.
"Lebanon is one of the most unequal countries on earth," Special Rapporteur Olivier de Chatter told reporters in Beirut last week, while presenting his findings in one of the worst economic collapses since the Industrial Revolution. The population owns 70% of the total wealth.
The multidimensional poverty rate in Lebanon - the percentage of people who are unable to afford at least one basic service - reached 82% this summer.
But for those with the cash, the partying didn't stop in Batroun, a picturesque coastal town famous for its sandstone buildings and one of the busiest seasons ever, as a popular local getaway, from the now bleak capital.
Bars and restaurants fill with young crowds for elegant breakfasts.
With Lebanese elsewhere queuing for hours at petrol stations due to a fuel crisis across the country, Batroun Beach is crowded with jet-skis.
Perhaps most noticeably in a country that suffers from endless power cuts across the country, Batroun's generators keep running, and the city has 24-hour electricity.
The city is home to one of Lebanon's most controversial politicians.
It is about Gibran Bassil, a polarizing figure, and according to whomever you ask in Lebanon, he is either responsible for preserving the city as an island of success amid the collapse, or he is one of the main architects of the fall of Lebanon.
The 51-year-old is one of the most famous sons of Batroun;
In addition, he represents the region in Parliament.
He is also the son-in-law of President Michel Aoun, and the head of the largest Christian bloc in Lebanon (the Free Patriotic Movement), and he is keen to highlight his role in the city's success.
He told the "Sunday Telegraph" newspaper from his family home in the center of Batroun: "We worked to supply Batroun with diesel so that the private generators would not stop."
"I've always thought about turning Batroun into something like this," he continued, pointing to his beautifully restored sandstone house, a building dating back two centuries or more, and owned by his grandfather.
"When I ran in the elections in 2005, I started on development projects," says the civil engineer turned real estate developer.
He adds, “I have completed all the city's infrastructure, from electricity, water, sewage, and everything;
In addition to the roads;
Then we started renovating the city as a whole, so the place started to get more crowded.”
Bassil did not succeed in his 2005 parliamentary attempt, but his position as head of the Free Patriotic Movement secured him positions as Minister of Communications in 2009, Minister of Energy from 2009 to 2014, and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2020.
special relationship
The Lebanese politician has a relationship with the Lebanese president, and is seen by some as the real force behind the 88-year-old leader, whose position Bassil is said to be coveting.
He presents the same diagnosis to Lebanon's problems, as do many of the country's politicians;
That corruption and mismanagement are the cause of the crisis, and the current company is excluded, saying: “Politicians in this country do not believe in development, but rather in nepotism, and citizens are their customers. They are not rights holders who have the right to services, so they come to someone and ask for services. And he does it on a personal level.”
With a dark car and another wagon behind him, loaded with tattooed guards, Basil navigates cobblestone streets at 20 mph, pointing out the development projects he is involved in;
“This is really the best thing I do in life,” describing his love for evolution.
Then, he adds, "I'm a good politician too."
Basil was criticized for his hyperactivity, love of performance, and lack of seriousness.
His tour often stops to greet his supporters and kiss children.
"This is a very good man," said Mounir Sfeir, a young man who stopped Basil for a souvenir photo, adding, "He is honest and works hard for the benefit of the country."
But not every Lebanese citizen agrees, and for the 2019 protest movement, which criticized decades of economic mismanagement, Bassil became the symbol of the corrupt, self-serving Lebanese politician, and an insulting chant became the anthem of the protesters.
A video clip spread during the summer of a confrontation between a Lebanese young woman and Basil's bodyguards, after she confronted him in a Batroun restaurant.
Yasmine Al-Masry cursed him in a rough local language, before his security escorts pushed her away and took her phone.
miserable record
Bassil's opponents criticize his party's alliance with Hezbollah for enabling the sanctioned group to increase its influence in Lebanon. They point to the unfulfilled promises of 24-hour power Bassil made when he was a minister, and his failure to reform a sector that ultimately became responsible for nearly half of Lebanon's public debt. Dam projects were criticized as costly and ineffective, while construction contracts went to his partners. The Lebanese analyst, Bashar al-Halabi, says that "Gibran Bassil's record in every ministry he has occupied is a miserable record." Bassil was driving his car in Batroun when his assistant told him that the last part of the US sanctions on Lebanon had targeted Danny Khoury, a contractor in the controversial Basil Dam projects.
The Lebanese politician was subjected to sanctions last year, as the US Treasury accused him of strengthening his "political base by appointing friends to positions and buying other forms of influence within Lebanese political circles."
She said that as energy minister, he had approved projects "that would direct the Lebanese government's money to individuals close to it, through a group of shell companies."
• Whereas elsewhere the Lebanese stand in queues for hours, at petrol stations, due to the fuel crisis across the country; Batroun Beach is crowded with jet skis.
• 10% of the population owns 70% of the total wealth in Lebanon.
• 82% of the poverty rate in Lebanon last summer.
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