UN Team for release of kidnaped Israeli soldiers

New Delhi, Jul 17: The special three-member UN team, led by India's Vijay Nambiar and formed to defuse the current crisis in West Asia, has called for the release of kidnapped Israeli soldiers as part of a solution to the conflict which has taken serious dimensions, diplomatic sources said here today.

Mr Nambiar, Special Political Advisor to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, met Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora in Beirut last night and said he had come to Lebanon as the head of the UN mission as an ''act of solidarity with the people of this country and the region, who have suffered untold misery as a result of this escalating conflict.'' As efforts to defuse the crisis continue, he stressed three major points : ''My first call is for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, which must be respected by all parties,'' he said.

''Enough innocent people have been killed. No more innocent life must be lost.'' He emphasised that the UN supports the Lebanese Government and Prime Minister. ''We support the call for a ceasefire and their aim of exercising full authority over the entire country.'' Mr. Nambiar's third point centred on ''the release of the captives as part of a solution to this conflict,'' the sources said.

Mr Nambiar told Mr. Siniora that the UN was with him and the people of Lebanon and the region at a time of grave crisis.

After that meeting, the team met the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri.

UNI

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