French President Says UN Resolution on Lebanon Must Include Immediate Cease-Fire
Emerging from a meeting with his top Cabinet members in Toulon, President Chirac said it would be "immoral" to have a U.N. resolution that does not include a cease-fire as its key component. Mr. Chirac said the wording proposed by France offers an immediate cease-fire as well security guarantees for the warring parties.The stumbling block is reported to be over the demand by Lebanon and Arab states for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanese soil after a cease-fire. The United States and Israel want Israeli troops to stay in place until some kind of international force can be deployed to southern Lebanon.
In London, the British aid agency Oxfam said the delay in getting a cease-fire is creating a growing humanitarian crisis in the area."For weeks now we've been desperately calling for an immediate cease-fire," said Oxfam spokesman Ian Bra. "Every day there's a delay, there's more people who die on both sides of the conflict, in northern Israel as well. But every day their situation gets worse and worse, and the humanitarian situation will just get to crisis level if we do not have an immediate cease-fire."
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