Donors pledge $120 mln to rebuild Lebanon camp

VIENNA (Reuters) - International donors offered $120 million on Monday to help rebuild a Palestinian refugee camp badly damaged in fighting between Islamist militants and the Lebanese army last year.

The Austrian foreign ministry, hosting a conference in Vienna, said the sum had been pledged for the Nahr al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon. It did not give a breakdown of the donations by country.

The camp was home to about 40,000 people before fighting erupted in May last year in the worst internal violence since the civil war.

The 15-week battle killed more than 420 people, including 168 soldiers, and left the camp largely destroyed, displacing more than 5,000 families.

Lebanon is home to some 400,000 registered Palestinian refugees whose families fled their homes after the creation of Israel in 1948. More than half of them live in 12 camps scattered across the country.

International donors gathered in Vienna at the request of the Lebanese government in a meeting attended by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Arab League chief Amr Moussa and ministers from other countries.

"This conference comes as a confirmation of the solidarity of the international community and the Arab community with Lebanon.... and at the same time with the Palestinian people who have really been suffering for a long time," Siniora told a news conference during the meeting.

Citing estimates from the U.N., the World Bank and engineers, Siniora said camp reconstruction and the revitalization of surrounding villages would cost $450 million.

Half of the money would come from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab countries.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) puts the cost for rebuilding the camp itself at $282 million.

On Monday, the United States pledged $22 million at the conference, saying its contributions would be split between reconstruction efforts, revitalization of the surrounding areas and efforts to bolster Lebanese Internal Security Forces.

Palestinian Prime Minister Fayyad said he would sponsor a donation campaign aiming to raise $10 million, while the European Commission will give 8 million euros ($12 million).

"It is most important that we show the commitment with the Palestinian people, if they are in the Palestinian territory, or if they are outside of the Palestinian territories," said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

"This is timely, this is right so, and it will help the communities to come together."

Construction of the camp is expected to start early next year and completion is scheduled for mid-2011. A donors' conference in September raised some $20 million for rebuilding.

Raising funds to strengthen Palestinian police and legal institutions will be the focus of another donors conference in Berlin on Tuesday. Delegates from around 50 countries are expected to attend, with the "Quartet" of Middle East mediators -- the EU, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- set to meet on the conference sidelines.

(Reporting by Karin Strohecker; editing by Keith Weir)