NAM – Situation on Lebanon – Letter from Malaysia

Letter dated 19 July 2006 from the Permanent Representative of

Malaysia to the United Nations addressed to the President of the

Security Council

On behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, I have the honour to enclose herewith the statement by the Non-Aligned Movement concerning the current situation in Lebanon for the consideration of the members of the Security Council (see annex).

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter and its annex made available to the members of the Security Council and circulated as a document of the Council.

(Signed) Hamidon Ali

Permanent Representative of Malaysia

Chairman of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement

Annex to the letter dated 19 July 2006 from the Permanent

Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations addressed to the

President of the Security Council

Statement of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned

Movement in New York concerning the situation in Lebanon

The Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in New York met at the ambassadorial level on 18 July 2006 to consider the deteriorating situation in Lebanon. In this regard, the Non-Aligned Movement:

1. Expresses its solidarity with the Lebanese people.

2. Calls for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire under the auspices of the United Nations, in order to enable the United Nations, the Arab countries and other international parties in cooperation with the Government of Lebanon to responsibly resolve all issues arising from the events of the past few days as well as their underlying causes.

3. Calls further on the Security Council to take an immediate decision to establish a comprehensive ceasefire and to lift the Israeli blockade imposed on Lebanon and thereby assume its responsibilities as stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations.

4. Supports the special mission dispatched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the Middle East to exercise his good offices and to help defuse this major crisis.

5. Supports the Government of Lebanon in extending its authority over all its territories in cooperation with the United Nations in south Lebanon, striving to regain all Lebanese territory, exercising its full sovereignty over it, and implementing the 1949 armistice, which was reaffirmed by the Lebanese in the Taif National Accord.

6. Expresses its grave concern at the dire humanitarian situation of the Lebanese people, and calls on the international community and donor countries to assist and provide humanitarian aid to Lebanon.

7. Calls for ensuring the safety of all United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) personnel and according them full freedom of movement throughout its full area of operation in order to enable it to perform its mission and humanitarian duties.

8. Stresses the importance of, and the need to achieve, a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on Security Council resolutions, including its resolutions 242 (1967) of 22 November 1967, 338 (1973) of 22 October 1973, and 425 (1978) of 19 March 1978 as well as the Arab Peace Initiative adopted by the Arab Summit in Beirut in March 2002, and further stresses the permanent responsibility of the United Nations in this regard.

The NAM Coordinating Bureau will remain seized of this important issue and will meet again to evaluate the developments in this regard.