Suleiman Urges Backing for Lebanon”s Bid for a Non-permanent Security Council Seat
President Michel Suleiman said that Lebanon was fully committed to the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and added that the international community should urge Israel to stop its threats against Lebanon.
"Lebanon reiterates its full commitment to Resolution 1701," Suleiman said in a speech Tuesday before the 63rd U.N. General Assembly session in New York.
"Lebanon is facing a series of dangers and challenges which require the international community to compel Israel to implement Resolution 1701…and stop its dangerous threats to launch a new war on Lebanon," the president said.
He said the international community should help Lebanon recover its occupied land and ask Israel to stop its violations of Lebanese airspace and provide detailed maps of mines and cluster bombs it dropped on Lebanon.
Suleiman vowed that the Lebanese government will obligate Israel to pay compensations for all the damages that resulted from its "repeated offensives on Lebanon."
He told world leaders in his speech at around 11:40 pm Beirut time that another challenge for Lebanon was "to confront terror in all its forms and maintain civil peace."
Coming up with a national strategy "to protect Lebanon and defend it," is another challenge, according to Suleiman.
Suleiman reminded world leaders of Lebanon”s bid for a two-year non-permanent Security Council seat.
Lebanon "had presented its candidacy to a non-permanent Security Council seat earmarked for Asia during 2010-2011," he said.
We hope that we get the backing of all "friendly countries" for this candidacy, Suleiman added.
He said Lebanon is committed to the international tribunal that will try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri”s suspected assassins and is ready to cooperate with the U.N. to seek the truth behind the Feb. 2005 bombing and related crimes.
Suleiman expressed Lebanon”s rejection to naturalize Palestinians and stressed their right of return to their homeland.
The Lebanese president also brought up during his speech the issue of Lebanese-Syrian relations.
He said he visited Damascus on August 13 and agreed with Syrian President Bashar Assad to establish diplomatic ties between the two countries, demarcate the border and find a solution to the issue of Lebanese missing during the civil war.