Middle East ceasefire pressure grows
Middle East ceasefire pressure grows
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Sunday, 30, Jul 2006 06:55
United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan has told the security council that the credibility of the UN will be destroyed if it does not immediately demand a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hizbullah.
In an address to the security council earlier today, Mr Annan said that "action" was needed to show the two forces that the international community could not stand by and watch innocent lives being lost in the conflict.
"I'm deeply dismayed that my earlier calls for immediate cessation of hostilities were not heard, with the result that innocent lives continue to be taken and innocent civilians continue to suffer," Mr Annan said.
His words echo those of UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland, who yesterday pointed out that there was something very wrong with a conflict in which more children had died than armed soldiers.
That feeling was cemented further today when it emerged that at least 34 of the 50 fatalities killed today in an Israeli air strike on a building in the town of Qana were children.
Pressure from Mr Annan comes following the snubbing of US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice by Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora.
Mr Siniora forced Ms Rice to cancel her flight to Beirut and instead meet again with the Israeli prime minister after he refused to meet with the US' senior diplomat, saying that he would not countenance new talks until a ceasefire was arranged.
Meanwhile British prime minister Tony Blair described today's attack as "absolutely tragic" and said the constant toll of deaths caused by the current conflict "simply cannot continue".