LEBANON: U.N. Secretary-Geeral Kofi Annan urges Israel and Hizbollah to end disputes fast
Record ID:
1518968
LEBANON: U.N. Secretary-Geeral Kofi Annan urges Israel and Hizbollah to end disputes fast
- Title: LEBANON: U.N. Secretary-Geeral Kofi Annan urges Israel and Hizbollah to end disputes fast
- Date: 29th August 2006
- Summary: (BN11) MARKABA, LEBANON (AUGUST 29, 2006) (AGENCY POOL) UNITED NATIONS (UN) FLAG FLAPPING IN WIND CAR WITH WRITING ON SIDE READING: UN / UNITED NATIONS FLAG ATTACHED TO SIDE OF CAR UNIFIL SOLDIERS STANDING NEAR TANK HELICOPTER CARRYING ANNAN FLYING HELICOPTER CARRYING ANNAN LANDING IN MARKABA ANNAN DISEMBARKS HELICOPTER/ WALKS TOWARDS CARS UN CONVOY LEAVING
- Embargoed: 12th September 2006 23:50
- Keywords:
- Location: Lebanon
- Country: Lebanon
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVAAW5TDLFOBO85A2MLGNMRLQZJ5
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, arrived in Israel on Tuesday (August 29) after visiting devastated south Lebanon where he urged Israel and Hizbollah to move swiftly to settle disputes blocking a permanent ceasefire to be upheld by 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers.
He listed as "serious irritants" the fate of two Israeli soldiers snatched by Hizbollah and that of Lebanese prisoners held in Israel, as well as an Israeli air and sea blockade of Lebanon imposed at the start of the war nearly seven weeks ago.
"There are certain key issues which are becoming serious irritants that we need to resolve. We need to resolve the issue of the abducted soldiers very quickly. Obviously there is also the issue of the prisoners, which would need to be dealt with. We need to deal with the lifting of the embargo, sea, land and air, which for the Lebanese is a humiliation, the infringement on their sovereignty, and of course the government has to take measures to ensure that these entry ports for the sea and land is secure.
Responding to a reporter's question on the violations of the ceasefire, Annan urged all parties to respect the ceasefire stressing the importance of building a peaceful Lebanon.
"You cannot have - it's a bit like having a football match where one of the teams also attempts to play the referee. You cannot be a team in a football match and the referee. So if there are problems they (Israel and Lebanon) have to go to Pellegrini (Major General Alain Pellegrini) or come to me. I urge all parties to respect strictly the ceasefire. We do have a chance to turn this into a permanent ceasefire and with the agreement and the political framework really to build a peaceful Lebanon, with a peaceful relation between Lebanon and Israel. We don't want to go back to a situation where we can have an explosion like this in six months or six years."
Annan is due to meet Defence Minister Amir Peretz and the families of the soldiers at 1530 GMT on the second leg of his Middle East tour.
Israel has refused to lift the blockade, citing the need to prevent the rearming of Hizbollah, whose capture of the Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12 sparked the war.
Annan is trying to secure full implementation of a Security Council resolution that halted the fighting on Aug. 14 and mandated up to 15,000 U.N. troops to deploy in the south.
Italy's first contingent of 800 troops, out of an eventual 3,000 pledged, set sail on what Rome said would be a "long and risky" mission. The aircraft carrier Garibaldi and four other Navy ships were due to reach Lebanon by Friday.
France promised to send a 900-strong battalion before the middle of September, with a second battalion to follow.
Annan laid a wreath in Naqoura for five UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) members killed by Israeli attacks during the 34-day war. He later flew over areas battered by Israeli bombing landing at UNIFIL bases in the border villages of Markaba, Houla and Maiss al-Jabal.
Many thousands of civilians have returned to the south, but are finding a landscape strewn with cluster bombs. "Unexploded ordnance continues to be a major threat, especially to children," said Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for the UN children's agency UNICEF, in Geneva.
He said 359 Israeli cluster bomb strike locations had been reported in the south, along with more than 60 unexploded bombs ranging from 500 to 2,000 pounds in houses and gardens.
At least 12 people have been killed by cluster bombs since the war, which cost the lives of nearly 1,200 people, mainly civilians, in Lebanon, as well as 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers. - Copyright Holder: POOL (CAN SELL)
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