Arab League

Extract

The Arab League Council held a meeting in Benghazi, Libya, from May 31 to June 6, 1958, to consider the Lebanese government's complaint of interference by the United Arab Republic in Lebanon's internal affairs. The Lebanese delegation informed the final meeting that its government was unable to accept a four-part resolution which had been devised by Libya, Sudan, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia in an attempt to produce a compromise acceptable to the two disputants. The Lebanese delegation's leader, Beshir Awal, was understood to have maintained that as the first clause of the resolution (calling on all Arab states to refrain from propaganda likely to upset normal relations between them) did not specifically mention the United Arab Republic (UAR) press and radio campaign against the Lebanese government, it was impossible for Lebanon to comply with the fourth clause of the resolution (that Lebanon should withdraw its complaint now before the Security Council). The Sudanese delegate, Mohamed Maghoub, was believed to have suggested that the Council could perhaps agree on the clause of the resolution which contained an appeal to the Lebanese people to cease from fratricidal strife. Agreement on this, too, proved impossible. Said Fahmy, for the UAR, gave his opinion that the Lebanese government had regarded the League Council session merely as a matter of form before taking its complaint to the Security Council. The delegates from Sudan, Iraq, Jordan, and Libya were sympathetic toward Lebanon.