UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 13, Reuter: Security Council Members tonight called for an immediate ceasefire in and around Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and urged all concerned to facilitate efforts to provide humanitarian assistance.
The appeal, issued after closed-door consultations, was prompted by mounting hardship in the camps Beirut and southern Lebanon which have been besieged for nearly four months by Lebanese Shi’Ite Amal militia.
The most recent effort to aid the “Camp War” victims was foiled earlier today when a relief convoy was fired on and halted at the entrance to Beirut’s Bourj AlBarajneh camp.
The U.N. statement, read to reporters by Council President Peter Zuze of Zambia, expressed “profound concern at the continued escalation of violence in certain parts of Lebanon, affecting the civilian population, particularly in and around Palestinian refugee camps”.
It said: “Deeply alarmed by the tragic suffering undergone by the civilian population, particularly inside the Palestinian refugee camps, they call on the parties concerned to observe an immediate ceasefire and to permit access to these camps for humanitarian purposes”.
The statement also urgently appealed to all concerned to facilitate the efforts of various governments and U.N. agencies, as well as nongovernment bodies, to provide critically needed humanitarian assistance.
The members of the Council repeated their call for a “speedy return to peace and a situation of normalcy and for the safeguarding of civilian lives in Lebanon”.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 20, 1987
