UN relief officials want access to Lebanon camp

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The UN's top relief officials appealed Wednesday for safe access to the Palestinian refugee camp at the center of a standoff between Islamic insurgents and the Lebanese army and urged the government to exercise maximum restraint in civilian areas. "What we want to see is access for humanitarian actors and humanitarian goods to the camp to enable basic supplies to reach people," John Holmes, the UN's emergency relief coordinator and undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told a news conference. Holmes also emphasized the need for medical evacuation of the wounded. The UN's last attempt Tuesday to send a convoy into Nahr el-Bared camp in northern Lebanon during a short-lived truce was met with violence. Holmes said it is unclear who was responsible for the crossfire that injured civilians and caused the UN to abandon its convoy.