Beirut, March 02: U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on political leaders in Beirut to prevent supporters from carrying weapons, as he lamented that political deadlock in Lebanon had barred the country from fulfilling international obligations.
In an advance copy of Ban’s latest report on the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, seen by The Daily Star, the secretary general called for a resumption of the aborted National Dialogue sessions in order to eradicate non-state arms from Lebanon.
“I call upon Lebanese leaders to work towards the country’s continued stability, with full respect for its constitutional institutions and all United Nations resolutions pertaining to Lebanon,” Ban wrote. “I further call upon Lebanese leaders to eschew the use of violence and, in particular, to take all possible measures to prevent the use of weapons by their supporters.”
In a week which saw the withdrawal of March 14 members from Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s Cabinet formation process partly in protest of Hezbollah’ arsenal, Ban warned of the destabilizing effect of weapons outside of Lebanese Army control.
“Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias continue to operate in Lebanon outside of the control of the state, in violation of [U.N] resolutions,” he wrote.
In addition to citing Hezbollah, Ban also warned of the danger posed by armed factions within Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps, as well as military bases operated by Fatah al-Islam and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).
“The bases represent a threat to Lebanese sovereignty and challenge Lebanon’s ability to manage its land borders. I have called upon the Lebanese authorities to dismantle the PFLP-GC and Fatah al-Intifada military bases, and on the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic to cooperate with these efforts,” he wrote.
Resolution 1701 was drafted to end the devastating 2006 summer war between Hezbollah and Israel, which killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mainly soldiers. It provides, among other stipulations, that Israel cease its violations of Lebanese territories, that no arms other than those used by the Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers be present south of the Litani River and that Lebanon make progress in agreeing its international borders.
The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeeping presence was beefed up in the wake of the conflict and is mandated with maintaining a cessation of hostilities, as well as monitoring the implementation of 1701.
Ban called on Israel to cease its reconnaissance flights over Lebanese territory and speed up its withdrawal from the occupied northern sector of Ghajar village.
“[Overflights] run counter to UNIFIL objectives and efforts to reduce tensions, and have a negative impact on the credibility of the Lebanese Armed Forces and UNIFIL. I call once again on Israel to cease immediately its overflights,” he wrote. “I urge the government of Israel to carry out, as soon as possible, the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces from northern Ghajar and the adjacent area north of the Blue Line.”
Ban said that the Lebanese government was obligated to make headway in demarcating its borders – in particular its frontier with Syria – as well as ensuring non-state groups relinquish their arsenals.
The collapse of Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government in January had slowed Lebanon’s cooperation with Resolution 1701, according to Ban.
“I regret that the paralysis of the Lebanese government during most of the reporting period prevented progress in the implementation of some of Lebanon’s key obligations,” he wrote.
In addition, Ban voiced disquiet over a number of sporadic attacks on UNIFIL peacekeepers, the most serious of which during the reporting period saw a UNIFIL soldier attacked, beaten up and his camera and mobile phone stolen by an assailant who boarded a force vehicle.
“I am concerned about the incidents, although isolated, that impeded UNIFIL’s freedom of movement and endangered the safety and security of peacekeepers,” he wrote.
Last month caretaker Foreign Minister Ali Al-Shami wrote to Ban to ask for U.N. assistance in drawing up a maritime border between Lebanon and Israel, in order to help protect fossil fuel reserves discovered in the eastern Mediterranean.
Ban replied at the time that it was not within his organization’s purview to protect disputed assets.
“The United Nations does not pronounce itself on the delimitation of boundaries, or on issues related to the entitlement to natural resources, unless it is…requested by all the parties concerned,” the U.N. chief wrote in the implementation report.
The secretary general added, however, that the U.N. would maintain efforts to ensure oil and gas exploration does not become another source of conflict between Lebanon and Israel.
“I further stated that the United Nations secretariat stood ready to pursue, with the agreement of the parties, all appropriate avenues to ensure that the exploration and exploitation of resources in the respective maritime zones declared by Lebanon and by Israel did not become a new source of friction or conflict between the parties,” he wrote.
——–Agencies