Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Monday for immediate presidential elections in Lebanon without foreign interference and told Syria and Iran they must support the disarmament of Hezbollah's well-armed militia.Ban highlighted the mounting international concern over Lebanon's failure to fill the top post, left vacant after pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud stepped down last November. He also warned that Lebanon will not be a fully sovereign, democratic state until Hezbollah is disbanded.
The secretary-general's six-month report to the U.N. Security Council, obtained by The Associated Press, focused on implementation of a 2004 resolution that calls for presidential elections under the constitution and the disbanding of all militias.
"Parliament, which has not met in more than a year, must be allowed to convene urgently to fulfill its constitutional duties in order to elect a president...," Ban said. "A free and fair presidential election, without foreign interference or influence must take place immediately. The current situation is no longer sustainable."
Lebanon's sharply divided parliament has failed to elect Army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as a consensus president because Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's pro-Western, anti-Syrian government and pro-Syrian opposition factions led by Hezbollah remain at loggerheads over power-sharing and the shape of the future Cabinet.