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UN bracing for Lebanon catastrophe
THE United Nations emergency relief coordinator said today he was preparing for a humanitarian catastrophe in Lebanon and insisted the situation there was worsening by the hour.Jan Egeland, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said nearly 500,000 people were fleeing Israel's deadly retaliatory attacks on Hezbollah militia in Lebanon - a third of them children. He branded Israel's air raids disproportionate as they continued into the ninth day of a conflict which has killed more than 300 people but said Hezbollah bore a heavy responsibility for hiding out in civilian areas. Mr Egeland said the UN was experiencing "enormous problems" in carrying out its duties because they are "caught in the crossfire" too. "They (the Lebanese) will keep on suffering in a way that we all need to understand is unacceptable," he told the BBC. "And their situation will get worse in the coming days as their coping mechanisms erode. "The World Food Program has food in the country but cannot move it around due to the security and the effects of the bombardment. This situation has to change because it will become a humanitarian catastrophe if it doesn't. "The humanitarian situation is getting worse by the hour; there has been an exponential increase in the number of displaced. "We have 400,000, nearing 500,000, people fleeing the conflict and worse, nearly one third of them are children. This is an example of how this war is hurting the civilians more than the soldiers. "Hezbollah has to stop the rain of rockets on Israel and Israel has to stop targeting civilian infrastructure and people." On Israel's response to Hezbollah's kidnap of two Israeli soldiers and slaying of eight others, he said: "It is disproportionate". "But also, Hezbollah is trying to blend into the civilian population. They bear a heavy responsibility for doing so, but they don't care that they are inflicting suffering on their own people." Mr Egeland said it was "nearly impossible to move anything in southern Lebanon". He said the UN had asked for the international ships taking out their nationals fleeing Lebanon to bring in humanitarian relief supplies and hoped that the situation would change in the coming days. Posted by: tipper 2006-07-20 |
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