UN chief urges Hezbollah to be political party
By Edith M. Lederer 
October 30, 2008
Associated Press
Original Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5htSnimg38NqsYhwmfjh7u21yvGtQD9452MGO1
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants Syria and Iran to support the transformation of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group from an armed militia to a political party, a U.N. envoy said Thursday.
Terje Roed-Larsen said the secretary-general is very concerned that fighting last spring in which Hezbollah's gunmen and Shiite allies defeated Sunni groups backing the pro-Western government may have prompted, if not accelerated, a process of rearmament in Lebanon.
Roed-Larsen is Ban's envoy dealing with implementation of a 2004 Security Council resolution that included demands for the disarmament and disbandment of all militias in Lebanon and the extension of government authority throughout the country.
Briefing the council on Ban's latest report, Roed-Larsen pointed to major strides the last six months — election of a Lebanese president, plans for parliamentary elections and establishment of diplomatic relations for the first time between Lebanon and Syria.
But, he added, there has been no tangible progress towards the disbanding and disarming of militias.
Roed-Larsen said the most significant Lebanese militia is the armed component of Hezbollah, which maintains a massive paramilitary infrastructure separate from the state that is a challenge to the authority of the government.
He said Ban is urging Hezbollah to transform itself into a political party and wants the group's allies Syria and Iran in particular to encourage that process.
The U.N. chief also is concerned that non-Lebanese groups in Lebanon, including Palestinian movements, have not been disarmed, Roed-Larsen said.
He reiterated Ban's conviction that disarming Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias should take place through a political process that will lead to the monopoly on the use of force by the government of Lebanon throughout all of its territory.