U.S. for Fair Polls, Need to End Arms Smuggling to Hizbullah

U.S. for Fair Polls, Need to End Arms Smuggling to Hizbullah

U.S. Permanent Representative to the U.N. Susan Rice said Monday that Washington looks forward for free and fair parliamentary elections in Lebanon and reiterated the need to stop arming Hizbullah.

"The United States looks forward to the upcoming elections, which must be free, fair and free of intimidation," Rice told the Security Council which debated how to breathe new life into the dormant Middle East peace process.

She also called for the "full implementation" of resolutions 1559 and 1701 "to protect the country”s sovereignty and independence."

"There is also a need to insist on an end to arms smuggling to and rearming of Hizbullah," Rice said in her address.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, meanwhile, told the Security Council that "the rearmament of Hizbullah is in contravention" of resolution 1559.