Paris: dismantling Hizbullah weapons through political process

The French- European affairs minister Catharine Colona announced, on the sideline of the meeting of the UN General Assembly on Friday, that " the weapons of all militias in Lebanon should be dismantled, including those of Hizbullah.

Colona said that Hizbullah is a legal political party inside Lebanon, but France deplores using the weapons "for reasons serving violence" against Israel.

Replying to a question on whether the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud has to resign, Colona said his situation is complicated "in particular" because of the current investigation into the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri.

She considered that the participation of Hizbullah in the elections and its representation in the parliament does "not eventually change what I had said on the need to dismantle its weapons."