The caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib, and Lebanon’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amal Mudallali, have been waging a war of statements for the past two days over Lebanon’s failure to require UNIFIL to coordinate with the army before carrying out any mission in its area of operations.
Bou Habib blamed Mudallali for this failure. He accused her of her delay in making the necessary contacts to inform the representatives of the five permanent members of the Security Council of Lebanon’s desire to obtain an amendment to the resolution renewing UNIFIL’s mandate.
He went so far as to accuse her of deliberately failing in her mission because of her forthcoming retirement.
The ambassador quickly responded by explaining, with supporting dates, that it was the ministry that had been late in sending her instructions. She challenged Bou Habib to make the dates of her correspondence public. She also criticized him for not having made the necessary contacts with representatives of the five permanent members in Beirut to prepare for the discussions in the Security Council.
Mudallali also rejected Bou Habib’s accusations that she had been negligent. “Unfortunately, anyone who has abdicated his responsibilities and failed to serve the interests of Lebanon issues this kind of statement in order to mislead public opinion and avoid having to acknowledge his responsibility. All in all, this is not surprising coming from the leaders of a State, none of whom wanted to take responsibility for the many tragedies that have befallen the country and the oppressed people because of them,” she said.
