62. Editorial Note
On June 6, Foreign Minister Charles Malik asked the U.N. Security Council to consider the complaint against the United Arab Republic which Lebanon had addressed to the Council on May 22. (See Document 48) Malik charged that arms had been supplied on a large scale by the United Arab Republic to “subversive elements” in Lebanon and added that those elements has been “trained in subversion” in the United Arab Republic and then sent back to Lebanon. He also charged that officials of the United Arab Republic had participated in the “direction” of the rebellion, and were waging a “violent” press and radio campaign against Lebanon. (U.N. Doc. S/PV.823, pages 1–22)
The Representative of the United Arab Republic, Omar Loutfi, denied Malik’s charges and termed them unsubstantiated. He maintained that the underlying cause of the present “troubles” in Lebanon was the desire of President Chamoun to be reelected “at any price.” (Ibid., pages 22–32)
James W. Barco, Deputy U.S. Representative in the Security Council, referred to the charges brought by Malik as “disturbing” and added that the evidence adduced by Malik to support his charges was impressive. He took note of Loutfi’s statement that his government had no intention to intervene in Lebanon’s domestic affairs or to threaten Lebanon’s integrity, but concluded that the situation merited the Security Council’s consideration. For text of this statement, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1958, page 941.