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UN The New Target In Lebanon
UPI U.N. Correspondent United Nations (UPI) June 25, 2007 While condemning the attack in southern Lebanon this weekend, the United Nations is not yet ready to place blame, nor has any group claimed responsibility. Nonetheless, the U.N. Security Council remains unbowed by the blast and pledges its support to the Lebanon mission, despite the fact that six peacekeepers were killed and two were seriously wounded. Yet the question that immediately arises is whether this attack signals a change in Lebanon's unfortunate legacy of car bombs that have been used in a series of assassinations going back to late 2004, targeting politicians critical of Syria's role in Lebanon. In other words, has the United Nations become a target? Spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters at U.N. World Headquarters in New York Monday peacekeepers from Spain and Colombia were on a patrol late in the afternoon Sunday near the town of Khiyam, in the eastern sector of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon's operational are,a when the explosion occurred, apparently from a car bomb. UNIFIL said it has begun an investigation to determine exactly what happened. "This is the most serious incident since the end of the war last summer," between Israeli Defense Forces and the militant Hezbollah, said Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano, UNIFIL force commander. "The perpetrators were not only targeting UNIFIL, but peace and security in the area," he said. "At this difficult moment I want to stress that all UNIFIL troops remain committed more than ever to its mission and resolve to implement the tasks mandated by the (U.N.) Security Council." The panel of 15 issued a formal statement after calling an emergency meeting first thing Monday morning, condemning the attack "in the strongest terms." Members of the council reaffirmed complete support of the force in carrying out its mandate to help implement the U.N. resolution ending last year's war. Council members appealed to all sides in Lebanon "to abide scrupulously by their obligation to respect the safety of the UNIFIL and other U.N. personnel," Ambassador Johan Verbeke of Belgium, this month's president of the council, said in the statement he read out in the formal chamber. He added this included "avoiding any course of action which endangers U.N. personnel and... ensuring UNIFIL is accorded full freedom of movement throughout its area of operations." The statement also noted the Lebanese government has condemned the bombing and welcomed the government's commitment to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. Talking to reporters outside the Security Council, Spain's Foreign Minister Leire Pajin expressed Madrid's gratitude for the panel's statement. "We take it as a very clear expression of support and solidarity on the part of the international community and Spain, the Spanish government, has already reaffirmed its determination to work with the United Nations for the peace mission in Lebanon as we are also cooperating with the United Nations in promoting peace throughout the world," she said, according to her translator, Spain's U.N. Ambassador Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo. In a statement issued by his spokesman in Paris, Michele Montas, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was deeply saddened by the attack and called for a full investigation "into this very disturbing incident." Ban "noted the fragility of the situation in Lebanon and reiterates the importance of UNIFIL's mandate for stability in the area," the statement said, describing the targeting of mission members as "in fact an attempt to undermine peace and security in the region and in particular the Lebanese and international efforts to stabilize the situation in southern Lebanon." The fragility the secretary-general referred to is political instability. The government wanted a tribunal to pick up on the work of an international investigations commission into the wave of assassinations, but could not get the opposition, in control of parliament, to call up an accord between the government and the United Nations for ratification. It was to establish such a special court "of international character" to try suspects from the bombings. When a stalemate emerged last month between the anti-Syrian government, headed by Fouad Siniora, and the pro-Syrians, Siniora asked the council to mandate the tribunal. The panel gave the Lebanese 10 days to resolve their differences then mandated the tribunal. The U.N. Secretariat is now preparing for such a court. With additional reporting by Carolyn Nardiello at the United Nations
Source: United Press International Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links United Nations
Law Of Unintended Consequences Fuels Wheels Of Misfortune
Washington DC (UPI) Jun 19, 2007U.S. President George W. Bush and the neo-conservatives wanted to change the map of the Middle East; in that they have succeeded. But what they did not count on was that the changes would be mapped by Syria and Iran, two countries that the Bush administration regards as rogue states and supporters of terrorism. |
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