The World Council of the Cedars Revolution (WCCR) in conjunction with the leadership of the Lebanese Community in Australia welcomes Terje Roed-Larsen to Sydney.

The World Council of the Cedars Revolution

Representing the hopes and aspirations of many millions of Lebanese in Lebanon and throughout the Diaspora

2300 M Street NW Suite 800, Washington DC, USA 20037

Phone (202) 506 9540, Fax (202) 293 3083

www.cedarsrevolution.org This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

16th March 2013

Your Excellency
Terje Roed-Larsen
UN Under Secretary General
Special Envoy for Implementation of UNSCR 1559 For Lebanon

Dear Sir,

The World Council of the Cedars Revolution (WCCR) in conjunction with the leadership of the Lebanese Community in Australia welcomes you to Sydney.

On behalf of the Lebanese Diaspora and the civil society of Lebanon we extend to you our deepest gratitude for your diligence in your pursuit of full implementation of UNSC Resolution 1559.

Whilst we acknowledge that full implementation is not yet complete, nevertheless, we are and continue to be appreciative of all your endeavours towards that objective.

In reference to your most recent report of the 18th of October 2012, we refer in particular to the cause of the inability to fully implement UNSCR 1559; that being the continued presence of arms in the hands of militias, Lebanese or otherwise, outside of the control of the Lebanese armed forces. The most pressing issues being as follows:

* a) The WCCR is extremely concerned that Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization and its affiliates are heavily represented and in control of government in Lebanon. It is becoming evermore difficult as time passes to disarm them. The government’s inability to disarm all terrorist organizations has given rise to the existence and expansion of the Salafists and the Islamic Brotherhood allowing them to mobilize and build their own arsenal in order to offset the capabilities of Hezbollah.

* b) The Syrian internal conflict is directly and adversely impacting the lives of the people of Lebanon. The hundreds of thousands of refugees pouring into Lebanon are causing a great demographic imbalance to the degree that the sovereignty, economy and security of Lebanon are under threat. The Lebanese security forces are unable to provide sufficient protection from terrorist organizations’ further infiltrating and expanding their control and operations on Lebanese soil. We refer in particular to Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad and Islamic Fundamentalists.

As such, we call on the United Nations to expand the size of UNIFIL and to deploy UNIFIL to cover the Lebanese Syrian borders.

* c) The ever expanding conflict between the two largest and most powerful Islamic institutions is threatening the fragile pluralist co-existence of Lebanese civil society. We ask the United Nations to ensure that Lebanon does not become engulfed in another conflict for lack of protection of its civil society.

* d) There are positive signs emanating from the President and the Legal Profession in Lebanon seeking to position Lebanon as a neutral Nation in the Middle East with same status as Switzerland in Europe. We call on the United Nations to expand this concept and support it to fruition.

Once again, we are delighted at meeting with you in Sydney and are appreciative of your continued pursuit for full implementation of UNSCR 1559.

Sincerely

Joseph P Baini

President