Aid agencies: Open Lebanon border vital for relief

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
An open border between Syria and Lebanon is vital to the shipment of relief supplies, whatever arrangements are made to expand the UN peacekeeping force in the country, aid agencies said Thursday. Geneva-based representatives of aid agencies refused to comment directly on Syria's apparent threat to seal its border with Lebanon if international troops are deployed along it, but said they must maintain unhindered access to people in need in Lebanon. "It is very important that the cease-fire holds," Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Program told The Associated Press on Thursday. "The movement of cargo into and within the country improves every day. So it is important that we keep that momentum," she said.