Annan tells UN Council to demand Mideast truce

Sun Jul 30, 7:12 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Security Council on Sunday to condemn a deadly Israeli attack on the Lebanese village of Qana and to call for an immediate end to the violence.

"I am deeply dismayed that my earlier calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities were not heeded," Annan said. "I repeat this call once again from this chamber and I appeal to the council to do likewise."

Annan was speaking at an emergency council meeting he called after the Israeli airstrike on Qana killed more than 60 civilians in the deadliest single attack of its 19-day-old war against Hizbollah militants.

The council spent most of the day in consultations with one draft of a formal statement expressing the 15-member body's "extreme shock and distress" over the Qana bombing by Israel and asking Annan to report back within a week on the incident.

But a dispute continued over paragraphs calling for the "immediate suspension of offensive actions from both sides" and the "immediate cessation of hostilities," which the United States opposes.

The council was also grappling with how to handle a U.S. announcement that Israel would stop aerial bombing for 48 hours.

A resolution drafted by France calling for an immediate end to fighting, outlining conditions for a permanent ceasefire and an international force in south Lebanon will not be considered until later in the week.

Annan said he was calling for a cessation of hostilities -- a limited truce to save lives while a ceasefire with detailed conditions is worked out.

He said Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told him Beirut would not engage in any more diplomatic discussions until violence had stopped.

The United States is under pressure from European and Arab allies to call for an early truce, though so far it shows no sign of softening its stand that a ceasefire cannot preserve the status quo. Close ally Britain too called for an immediate end to fighting.

FAILURE TO ACT FIRMLY

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman said Qana was "a hub for Hizbollah" and said his country had "beseeched" residents to leave prior to Sunday's attack.

"I am beseeching you not to play into their (Hizbollah's) hands, not to provide them with what they are seeking while sacrificing their own people as human shields and as victims," Gillerman said.

"Every dead Lebanese child is a horrible mistake and a tragedy. For them (Hizbollah) every dead Israeli child is a victory and a cause for celebration."

Annan said no one disputed Israel's right to defend itself "but its manner of doing so is causing death and suffering." He also condemned Hizbollah's shelling of northern Israel and its "unprovoked" kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers which started the crisis.

But he said people had notice the council's failure "to act firmly and quickly during this crisis."

"For the sake of the people of the region and of this organization, I urge you to act, and to act now," Annan said.

His plea was backed by Lebanese Foreign Ministry official Nouhad Mahmoud.

"I know that deep within you, in your heart of hearts, you know that Israel is committing atrocities on a scale that your conscience cannot tolerate," Mahmoud said.

France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, expressing dismay at the attack on Qana, said "such an action cannot be justified" and renewed his government's plea for an immediate end to the fighting.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry also called on the council to call for an immediate end to fighting as well as a resolution setting out "the political basis for resolving this crisis on a longer-term basis."

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