News

Rice to return to Middle East tomorrow

Friday, 28 July 2006

US President George W Bush has said the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, will return to the Middle East tomorrow.

Speaking after a meeting in Washington with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bush said they agreed a multi-national peacekeeping force was the best way to end the conflict.

The US and Britain have been criticised for failing to join calls for an immediate end to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, the US State Department has said it views as outrageous remarks made by Israel's justice minister yesterday that a conference of international diplomats in Rome gave Israel a green light to continue bombing Lebanon.

The conference failed to agree to a call for a ceasefire, principally because of US and British opposition.

UNSC agrees statement on Lebanon

Last night, the United Nations Security Council approved a statement expressing shock and distress at the Israeli air strike in Lebanon earlier this week which killed four UN observers but made no condemnation of the incident.

While the statement called for a comprehensive inquiry, diplomats said the US had refused to agree any statement which criticised Israel.

China had sought a stronger motion.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said he did not accept that the outcome made the organisation look weak.