UN sends team to Middle East as tensions escalate

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will send three veteran UN officials to the Middle East in a bid to defuse what he called a “major crisis” there, the United Nations said today.

Annan was responding to a flare-up in violence that began two weeks ago when Israeli forces launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip to free a captured soldier.

Israel then launched attacks against Lebanon on Wednesday after Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers.

The team will be led by Vijay Nambiar, Annan’s special political adviser.

It also includes UN Mideast envoy Alvaro de Soto and Terje Roed-Larsen, Anna’s special envoy who has overseen implementation of a UN resolution demanding Syria end its sway over Lebanon.

“Mr Nambiar will emphasise to all parties the Secretary-General’s call to exercise restraint and to do whatever possible to help contain the conflict,” Annan’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement released in Rome, where Annan is visiting.

The three officials will head to Cairo for a meeting of the Arab League foreign ministers on Saturday and also travel to Israel, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, a statement said.