THE CANADIAN LEBANESE HUMAN RIGHTS FEDERATION (CLHRF)

Phone & Fax (905) 272-9389.
E-mail (clhrf@yahoo.com) 
Home page address (http://www.clhrf.com)

December 10, 1998

OPEN LETTER TO: MR.KOFI ANNAN, UN GENERAL SECRETARY

To: His Excellency, Mr. Kofi Annan/ UN General Secretary

Dear Mr. Annan:

The majority of the Lebanese both in occupied Lebanon and in Diaspora were outraged last week. They were shocked while reading Lebanon’s annual speech delivered on Wednesday (2/12/1998) by Mr. Samir Mubarark, Lebanon’s regime ambassador to the UN, at the 53rd United Nations session. They could not conceptualize the content of a speech that completely ignored their legitimate demands from the UN. It committed numerous infringements with regard to occupation, human rights, UN resolutions, peace negotiations, Lebanese detainees, atrocities committed on Lebanese citizens, crimes against sovereignty, unity and liberation. On behalf of the free people of Lebanon, we ask the UN to disregard Mr. Mubarak’s speech and take into consideration the following facts:

1-UN resolution # 520 that calls for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon was ignored completely in Mr. Mubarak’s speech. Instead, surely instructed by the Lebanese Syrian-installed regime, he focused solely on UN resolutions 425, 242 and 338. While the first resolution calls for the withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon, the other two have nothing to do with the Lebanese crisis and relate only to the occupied Arabic land lost to Israel during two wars.

2- The speech committed a crime, by confirming the regime’s illegal stance on unity and oneness of Lebanese and Syrian tracks in negotiations with Israel. Israel, as your excellency is aware, has been asking continuously to withdraw from Lebanon, provided its government assumes security responsibilities and sends the army to police the Lebanese border and prevent infiltration. The Lebanese government, because of Syrian strong influence, has been refusing these offers.

3- The speech spoke about the Lebanese detainees in Israel and South Lebanon, but ignored completely thousands of innocent Lebanese citizens detained arbitrarily in the notorious Syrian jails for political and religious reasons. The Lebanese regime is biased and is dealing with its own people with double standards.

4- Mr. Mubarak ignored the fact that the Lebanese-Israeli conflict has nothing to do with the “land for peace” equation adopted by both Arabs and Israelis at the Madrid Peace conference. This equation applies only to Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel and Palestinians. The Lebanese-Israeli conflict is limited to security, and only to security.

The question is: what Lebanon is Mr. Mubarak talking about in his speech? Is it the free, independent, democratic, multi-cultural, sovereign country that all the Lebanese are yearning for? Or the Lebanon that the Syrian regime is working to destroy, impoverish and annex. Mr. Mubarak’s speech does not express the Lebanese hopes, aspirations or ambitions. Mr. Mubarak spoke on behalf of the Syrian occupier and not on behalf of the Lebanese people.

On behalf of the majority of the Lebanese people we ask your Excellency, the United Nations, and all free countries in the world to help us in the implementation of all UN resolutions related to Lebanon 425, 426 and 520. We also ask the UN to delineate the fact that integrating the Lebanese and the Syrian track negotiations with Israel is illegal, a crime against the sovereignty of Lebanon and a frank transgression of the United Nations covenant.

Yours truly,
Elias Bejjani
CLHRF Secretary