NEW YORK: The UN secretary-general on Friday called for a strong Lebanese state with a monopoly on the use of force after meeting with President Joseph Aoun.
“This is no longer the time of armed groups,” Antonio Guterres said. “This is the time of strong states.”
Speaking after the meeting in Beirut, he said: “My strong appeal to both parties, to Hezbollah and to Israel, is for a ceasefire to stop war and pave the way to find a solution.”
Such a solution, he added, should allow Lebanon to emerge as a sovereign state with full territorial integrity and with state institutions controlling the use of force.
Guterres had landed earlier in Beirut on a solidarity visit “as a friend of the Lebanese people,” telling reporters: “It’s in difficult moments that friendship and solidarity are essential.”
He said he is aware of the “enormous” suffering by the Lebanese as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan coincides with the Christian season of Lent. “These should be moments of peace, these should be moments of solidarity,” he added.
“Unfortunately, Lebanon was dragged into a war that is not a war that its people would be willing to have.”
He said: “I sincerely hope that in my next visit to Lebanon, I’ll be able to visit a Lebanon in peace, a Lebanon where the state has the monopoly of the use of force and where its territorial integrity is fully reestablished”
