Annan calls for a halt to escalating conflict

UNITED Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday called for an immediate halt to the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, but said “there are serious obstacles to reaching a ceasefire or even to diminishing the violence quickly”.

Earlier, the UN’s emergency relief co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, warned that one third of all casualties in the Lebanon-Israel conflict have been children.

He said it appeared neither Hezbollah nor the Israelis seemed to care about civilian suffering.

He added that the wounded could not be helped because roads and bridges had been cut.

“It is nearly impossible in southern Lebanon to move anything anywhere because it is too dangerous. It is too dangerous for our people to move things,” Mr Egeland said.

Mr Annan said Hezbollah’s actions in launching rockets into Israel and abducting Israeli soldiers “hold an entire nation hostage” and set back prospects for Middle East peace.

“While Hezbollah’s actions are deplorable, and Israel has a right to defend itself, the excessive use of force is to be condemned,” he said. Israel must make “a far greater and more credible effort ... to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure,” he said.

In a report to the UN Security Council based on the visit of a three-member UN team to the region and his own contacts, Mr Annan said “almost every day brings a new escalation” in fighting and the number of people affected by the conflict could likely double from the current estimate of about 500,000 to one million.

Another 140,000 people have fled into Syria, he said.

“What is most urgently needed is an immediate cessation of hostilities” to prevent the further death of innocent civilians, to get food and medicine to those in need, and to give diplomacy a chance to provide a lasting solution to the current crisis, he said.