LEBANON/GEORGIA: United Nations Security Council condemns Lebanon bomb attack and welcomes Georgia-Russia cease-fire agreement

Record ID: 1539879

  • Title: LEBANON/GEORGIA: United Nations Security Council condemns Lebanon bomb attack and welcomes Georgia-Russia cease-fire agreement
  • Date: 14th August 2008
  • Summary: UNITED NATIONS (FILE) (REUTERS) UNITED NATIONS EXTERIOR
  • Embargoed: 29th August 2008 12:38
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVADNCKSCAHGEXHYF7S0F1LNQJAD
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: The United Nations Security Council strongly condemned Wednesday's (August 13) bomb attack that killed at least 15 people, including nine soldiers, in the Lebanese town of Tripoli.
    Jan Grauls, Belgium's Ambassador to the United Nations and the council's current president, offered the Security Council's condolences to the victims' families.

    "The members of the Security Council expressed their condolences to the families of the victims, to the Lebanese Armed Forces, and to the government of Lebanon. The members of the Security Council underlined a need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of this reprehensible act of terrorism to justice, commended the commitment of the government of Lebanon to this end, and urged all states in accordance with our obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions to cooperate actively with the Lebanese authorities in this regard," he said.
    The attack was the deadliest on the army since a battle with al Qaeda-inspired militants last year. The army said the bomb had been placed in a bag at a bus stop where soldiers usually gather.
    Grauls also said he hoped there would soon be a draft Security Council resolution on the fighting inside Georgia.
    France, which holds the European Union's rotating presidency and is mediating in the Georgia crisis, is revising a draft Security Council resolution that would call for international peacekeepers in Georgia to monitor the cease-fire.
    It will most likely not include precise details of how many and where they will be positioned, European diplomats said.
    The text, which diplomats said they hoped would be put to a vote before the end of the week, will reflect the 6-point provisional cease-fire agreement between Russia and Georgia brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

    "We now have to wait until the French have done these consultations and then they will come up with a new draft on the basis of the Sarkozy plan, if I may call it like that. It is a very positive development because it indicates the military logic, which prevailed until last weekend, has now given way to a political logic, a diplomatic logic and we need to give that political logic some space, some oxygen, if I may put it like that. It is my expectation that very soon now the French delegation will come up with a new text," Grauls said.
    Earlier in the day Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement stating that he was prepared to contribute to peacekeeping arrangements in Georgia and to help organize peace talks.
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