COUNCIL FOR DEVELOPMENT AND RECONSTRUCTION (CDR)

council founded to design and supervise the reconstruction of lebanon in 1977.

The Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) was founded to design and supervise the reconstruction of Lebanon in 1977 when the government falsely assumed that the civil war had ended. The CDR was supposed to receive and disburse foreign aid money to rebuild Lebanon, to assess the extent of damages resulting from Lebanon's civil war, and allocate international and Lebanese financial aid for reconstruction purposes.

The CDR enjoyed wide powers, often superior to those of the cabinet, and was directly accountable to the office of the prime minister. In 1978, $454 million was committed by the CDR for road repairs, housing, transportation, and the rebuilding of Beirut International Airport. In 1983, following Israel's invasion of southern Lebanon, which resulted in massive destruction and thousands of deaths, the CDR could raise only $571 million of the $15 billion necessary for the rebuilding of Lebanon's infrastructure. International and Arab pledges of financial support were never totally forthcoming; some countries did not make good on their pledges. Between 1985 and 1988, the activities of the CDR were undermined by government paralysis, rampant inflation, financial crisis, and the growing violence inside Lebanon.

In 1990, following the Taʾif Accord and the formation of a new government in Lebanon, the CDR was reinstated, and it became an arm of the political and economic apparatus of powerful prime minister Rafiq Bahaʾuddin al-Hariri.

see also hariri, rafiq bahaʾuddin al-; taʾif accord.

Bibliography

American Task Force for Lebanon. Working Paper: Conference on Lebanon. Washington, DC: Author, 1991.

George E. Irani

Updated by As'ad AbuKhalil