Last update - 00:00 18/04/2007
Italy: Political crisis in Lebanon strains UN peacekeeping efforts
By Reuters
Italy on Wednesday told the United Nations' secretary-general that the political crisis in Lebanon, the worst in the country since the 1975-90 civil war, is undermining UN peacekeeping objectives like disarming Hezbollah militias and tightening borders.
Italy leads the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.
"We wanted to express our concern to the secretary-general about the situation of political-institutional impasse happening in Lebanon and for the resulting difficulties," Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema told reporters.
At a joint news conference with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, D'Alema said the situation was impeding the objectives enshrined in a UN resolution of "disarming the militias [and] effective control of the borders to prevent arms trafficking."
Lebanon's political crisis is centered on the UN-backed proposal for a tribunal to try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others.
D'Alema said the establishment of the tribunal was "irrefutable."
Ban said he agreed with everything D'Alema had said in his opening remarks, which also included other issues like Kosovo.
"I do not have much to add. Therefore you may quote what the deputy prime minister said, as if I had said it, if you want, in your reporting," Ban told reporters.
Hezbollah told a senior UN official in Beirut on Wednesday that any UN Security Council move to impose a special tribunal on Lebanon to try suspects in killings of al-Hariri and others could plunge the country into strife.
Without Lebanese approval, the Security Council may decide unilaterally to set up the tribunal.
Italy is a temporary member of the Security Council. D'Alema said he and Ban had discussed a possible "political initiative" to help fulfill the UN's objectives for Lebanon.
The United States and France, along with Lebanon's ruling coalition, are the court's staunchest proponents. Government supporters accuse Syria of orchestrating Hariri's 2005 assassination and subsequent killings. Damascus denies the allegations.