PARIS: The international community yesterday strongly condemned renewed fighting in Lebanon, with warnings of a humanitarian crisis and calls by some for Islamic militiamen to be disarmed.
The UN voiced concern about an unfolding human crisis in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon where the army was locked in battle with Islamist extremists.
The German presidency of the European Union condemned the bloodshed and called for the disarmament of Islamic militia fighters.
The calls followed serious concern expressed by Russia on Sunday. “Such an upsurge of violence in an already tense situation in Lebanon gives rise to deep anxiety,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
Lebanese troops pounded Islamist militiamen in a Palestinian refugee camp yesterday, the second day of the bloodiest internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war that has now killed at least 55 people and raised deep concerns about Lebanon’s fragile security.
Richard Cook, director of the UN Relief Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), said the fighting in and around Nahr al-Bared camp was distressing.
“We are deeply concerned about the developing humanitarian crisis, particularly the danger to civilian lives,” he said in a statement.
“Once a ceasefire is called, UNRWA will ensure essential care, food and water will be provided to the inhabitants of the camp as well as evacuating the injured and killed,” he said.
In Berlin, a foreign ministry spokesman said Germany viewed the fighting with very great concern, and “condemns the attack on the Lebanese security forces in the strongest terms.”
The renewed violence “reminded us how urgent it is that militia in Lebanon are disarmed.”
Britain backed the Lebanese military offensive in northern Lebanon in a statement by Foreign Office minister Kim Howells.
“I am disturbed by the fighting at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon,” Howells said.
“The existence of extremists sympathetic to Al Qaeda in the camp is a threat to Lebanon and the broader region and the vast majority of Palestinians in that camp and others oppose them,” he added.
“We support the Lebanese authorities in bringing the situation under control,” Howells said.
He welcomed the efforts of the International Red Cross to deliver aid to the camp. The violence underscored the need for implementing UN Security Council resolutions calling for disbanding and disarming all militias in Lebanon, he said.
Britain also condemned Sunday’s bombing in east Beirut that killed one person and injured many others, he said, adding, “There can be no justification for such attacks, which only exacerbate an already tense political climate.”
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner spoke with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Sunday to assure him of France’s solidarity, his office said. – AFP
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