Egypt will not go to war for Lebanon, says Mubarak ROME: A 15-nation crisis conference aimed at ending the bloodshed in Lebanon deadlocked Wednesday over the timing of a ceasefire which would allow aid to reach half a million refugees. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan made an impassioned plea for the conference to back an immediate cessation of hostilities, setting himself on a collision course with the United States and Britain. We face a grave humanitarian crisis, Annan told the talks at the Italian foreign ministry, speaking after an Israeli air strike killed four UN observers in Lebanon and provoked a worldwide outcry. The humanitarian situation was horrendous and dangerous, Annan said. The UN chief called on the Hezbollah militia to stop its deliberate targeting of Israeli population centers and urged Israel to end its bombardments, blockades and ground operations. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire backed by many of Washington s European and Arab allies, saying the conditions are not in place and insisting the conflict can only be resolved by addressing its root causes. The view is shared by Britain, whose primary aim at the conference is to find a way of addressing the terrible humanitarian plight that the Lebanese people find themselves in, a foreign office spokesman told journalists. Secondly, we need to build further international consensus around the political conditions for a durable and lasting ceasefire. And thirdly to reinforce the authority and sovereignty of the Lebanese government, the spokesman said. But Annan called on key powers to end their differences over the timing of a ceasefire and speak with one voice. The death and destruction we have witnessed in the past two weeks, including yesterday s tragic killing of UN peacekeepers, compels this conference to send a strong message and to speak with one voice, he said. A temporary cessation of hostilities would offer crucial hours and days for essential humanitarian tasks, said Annan. President Hosni Mubarak rejected calls for tougher action in response to Israel s offensive in Lebanon in comments carried by the state-owned press on Wednesday. Those who urge Egypt to go to war to defend Lebanon or Hezbollah are not aware that the time of exterior adventures is over, he told reporters on the flight back from talks with Saudi King Abdullah. Mubarak stressed that throwing the country into a war would be irresponsible when 73 million Egyptians need development, services, work and housing. Those who are asking for war will make us lose all of that in a blink, said Mubarak, quoted by the government daily Al-Gomhuriya. He stressed that he was not ready to spend the people s budget on a war ... which isn t their war. The Egyptian army is for defending Egypt only and this is not going to change, Mubarak added. Egyptian opposition parties and newspapers have been very critical of the government s stance since Israel launched a deadly offensive against Lebanon following the July 12 capture of two its soldiers by Hezbollah militants. As Egypt marks the 50th anniversary of the Suez Canal nationalization by Gamal Abdel Nasser, critics have accused Mubarak of being subservient to the West and praised Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah for daring to challenge Israel. Whilst condemning Israel s killing of Lebanese civilians, Mubarak also criticized Hezbollah adventurism, charging that the Shiite militant group risked dragging the entire region into conflict. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state in 1979 and has been a major mediator in the region s crises. Mubarak and King Abdullah agreed that their countries would demand an immediate ceasefire during an international crisis conference on Lebanon to be held in Rome on Wednesday. Annan began his speech by calling on the conference to observe a minute s silence in memory of the four UN observers killed in an Israeli bombardment on southern Lebanon. Arab nations Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, backed by France, are insisting on an immediate end to hostilities. The killing must stop now, said Lebanon s Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. An Italian foreign ministry spokesman said there was much discussion at the talks about the deployment of an international buffer force to guarantee lasting security in southern Lebanon. Siniora put forward a seven-point plan for Lebanese peace, including an undertaking to release Lebanese and Israeli prisoners, the withdrawal of the Israeli forces and the return of displaced Lebanese people to their villages. Italy s Foreign Minister Massimo D Alema opened the conference with a call for the establishment of a donor conference for the reconstruction of bomb-battered Lebanon. We need to hold a donor conference for the reconstruction of Lebanon as soon as possible, he told ministers. Most countries at the conference have backed the idea of a buffer force, but there are differences over its composition and the conditions under which it should be deployed. U.S. officials said Rice would press for a commitment to establish the force, with robust rules of engagement, to police a buffer zone and disarm militias if necessary. In an interview with Le Monde, French President Jacques Chirac proposed international peacekeepers could secure Lebanon s borders with Israel and Syria but he rejected NATO participation, saying its troops could be perceived as the armed wing of the West in the region. Chirac also took a swipe at Syria, saying the regime was at odds with security and peace, and he accused Iran of being partly responsible for the Middle East conflict. Information we have proves that sophisticated weapons and financing are sent by Iran, via Syria in all probability, to Hezbollah. It s a problem, Chirac said. Agencies
