Operational Risk Issues:
Working in Lebanon – and other high risk countries
I am sure we have all watched with horror the escalation of hostility in the Middle East, and in particular its impact on the Lebanon.
As many of you know, I am actually not an interim manager. Instead we provide training and consultancy services to banks on a global basis – one of which is a major bank in the Lebanon. Fortunately we did not have anyone on site when the escalation occurred, but we could easily have done so.
There has been a lot of nonsense written about Lebanon in the press, which is actually not consistent with the Lebanon we see. It was ravaged by ten years of civil war and then emerged to slowly rebuild itself. The government had control of most, but not all, of the country and even in 2005 machine guns were everywhere. From my hotel in Beirut to the old town where the restaurants are I had to pass 16 machine guns, where the guns were probably older than the “soldiers” holding them.
Opposite my hotel was a bombed out building. A family were living on the third floor taking power from one of the streetlights. The remaining floors of the building were still derelict showing bomb damage. Bombed out vehicles were still clearly to be seen, including one I recently saw shown on television.
The rebuilt old town of Beirut was slowly coming together. There were street cafes selling burgers, pizza and every other type of fast food imaginable. There was also little evidence of Lebanese restaurants (why go out to eat what you can have at home!) and little evidence of tourists. But the Hilton hotel had an impressive front wall, no roof or side walls, but an impressive front wall. Rebuilt? Hardly started.
Lebanon is a multi cultural city. Mosques nestle by the side of churches and religion is not as central to daily life as in other Middle Eastern cities. As a Brit, the locals greeted us warmly. Beirut has its bars, restaurants, clubs and casinos, with alcohol being very available – it is actually sold on the street by travelling vendors. Again no evidence of the restrictive practices that appear in other Middle Eastern countries. So there are two misconceptions I would wish to overturn:
- Lebanon was not rebuilt before the recent escalation. The rebuilding work had commenced and some impressive mosques and government offices had been built, but there was much still to do.
- Lebanon is not a hot bed of Islamic fervour. Instead I found a multi- cultural and tolerant society.
The problem is that many of our clients operate in what might be considered higher risk areas - Kuwait, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia. The question is what are the key precautions you should take?
We recommend that you always consider the following points when travelling to high risk locations:
- Make sure you have the details of the UK embassy with you at all times. If a problem breaks out you might not be able to get to your hotel room.
- Ensure that people within the hotel or at your client know your general movements and ideally have contact numbers for you. That way they might be able to find you if things go wrong.
- Carry sufficient currency (local and US dollars) with you at all times together with your passport, so that you can get out if you have to.
- Keep a low profile. Do not go out of your way to make yourself a target.
- Avoid “trophy buildings” since these are more likely targets that anything else.
- Where possible avoid mass transit transport systems, since these are prone to attack.
- Stick rigorously to the laws of the country – even if you do not like them that is your problem, not theirs
- Take basic medical supplies with you, since these may be hard to obtain locally.
- Take a torch and a battery powered radio, in case power is lost.
- Do not trust anybody other than your client or formally introduced people. If you do not know who they are, you do not know why they are being nice to you. Maintaining a general cautious attitude pays dividends.
Taking some of these basic precautions will enable you to operate as safely as possible. That being said I now have to drive to Slough….
Dennis Cox
Risk Reward Limited
July 21, 2006
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