D”Alema reiterates support for UNIFIL after attack

 

Foreign Minister Massimo D”Alema firmly condemned the bombing near Sidon that left two Irish soldiers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) wounded, a statement issued by the Italian Embassy said on Friday.

 

Expressing solidarity with the soldiers involved, D”Alema stressed that such an act of violence, the third since the expansion of the UNIFIL mission following the summer 2006 war with Israel, targets a peacekeeping force that is operating under a United Nations mandate with admirable dedication and sense of duty. D”Alema reiterated Italy”s intention to continue to support the international community”s commitment to promoting the stabilization of Lebanon, also expressing Italy”s support for Arab League efforts “to reaching a rapid and consensual solution to the persistent political crisis.”

 

In particular, D”Alema asserted Italy”s agreement with the hope expressed by the Arab League that the Lebanese political parties proceed to the consensual election of a new president, the formation of a national unity government capable of confronting the country”s problems and the adoption of a new electoral law.

 

“The recent unanimous approval of an Arab League declaration,” the minister D”Alema added, “is a strong, collective signal of the active commitment of all the Arab states, which Italy approves and supports … Indeed, it is urgent and necessary that all of Lebanon”s political parties shoulder the responsibility of reaching a timely political understanding that would finally benefit the entire Lebanese population and to which Italy will not fail to give its continuing and convinced support.”