Arms for Lebanon

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33995, 8 November 1975, Page 17

Arms for Lebanon

(N.Z. Press Assn —Copyright) JUNIEH (Lebanon), November 6. A rusting’ tramp steamer said to he unloading arms for Christian gunmen in the resort] bay of Juneih, 16 kilometres north of Beirut, threatened today to reignite the Lebanese civil war. *

The Prime Minister (Mr Karami) a Moslem and also Lebanon’s Defence Minister, charged that the Right-wing Phalange Party was taking delivery of the arms, and that the Army and Navy stood by despite his orders to move in and halt the unloading. Basin sealed off Phalange gunmen sealed off an unfinished yacht basin where the vessel lay at anchor. A Lebanese Navy gunboat bobbed in the Mediterranean about 200 metres offshore but did not intervene.

Mr Karami told journalists after a meeting with President Suleiman Franjieh, a Maronite Christian, that the Army was “unable to intervene to perform its duty although troops are surrounding the area and the ship itself.”

The complaint from Mr Karami was interpreted as a veiled accusation that Mr Franjieh was countermanding his orders, and as an indirect confirmation of Moslem charges that the Army helps arm Christian militiamen. Roadblocks sprang up in Beirut as news of the ship spread through the city, and several people were kidnapped, police sources said. I Cars clog road Thousands of cars clogged the northbound highway out of Beirut, many loaded with household possessions in an exodus that reflected fears of renewed street fighting. I The United States Secre-

tary of State (Dr Henry Kissinger) sent a letter to Mr Karami strongly supporting his efforts to consolidate a three-day old cease-fire and find a new coexistence formula for Lebanon’s 1.2 million Christians and 1.8 million Moslems.

The letter, handed over by the United States Ambassador (Mr G. McMurtrie Godley) also contained an apparent hint to Christians that they should give up some of their dominant political and economic power. The issue has been a major cause of the sevenmonth civil war that has killed 6500 persons, caused an estimated $4.5 billion in

damage and devastated the once-vibrant economy.

“I want you to know,” Dr Kissinger said, “that my Government very much hopes to see an end to the fighting in Lebanon and fully supports your Government in its efforts to bring this about.

“We wish you well in your efforts to encourage all concerned to show the moderation and spirit of compromise that would seem to be necessary if there is to be an end to the violence and the commencement of a new process of political accommodation leading to a new basis of stability with security for all your countrymen/"