Left Redundant

The owners of the Lebanese Sugar Factory in Majdal Anjar claim to have lost millions of dollars due to the government decision to abolish the sugar beet subsidy system and have sued the state to obtain compensation. Ahmed Ajami has worked as a guard at the National Sugar Factory since 1975. Today there is not much left to guard. Apart from a brief spell in 2004, the factory has been closed since 2001. A large heap of white stones, which used to be boiled to distract the calcium needed to refine sugar beet, is the only sign of what life use to be like. “During the sugar beet season, the factory employed over 250 people, mostly from Majdal Anjar, like me,” he sighed. “Of course we are all anxious about the government’s final word on sugar beet. It is our livelihood that’s at stake.” Situated just outside the border town