"I am deeply alarmed by the assassination of the Lebanese Minister of Industry, Mr. Pierre Gemayel. The commitment made by several countries to send troops to consolidate Lebanon’s autonomy as a State, is in jeopardy", said the President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Mr. Pier Ferdinando Casini.

He added that the difficulties facing the Lebanese Prime Minister, Mr. Fouad Siniora, compounded by this latest bloody attack carried out today – recalling the tragic death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - signal a renewed escalation of violence in Lebanon and risk seeing the efforts of the international community go in vain.

This assassination is a further blow to the international parliamentary community.

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Established in 1889 and with its Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the IPU, the oldest multilateral political organisation, currently brings together 148 affiliated parliaments and seven regional assemblies as associate members. The world organisation of parliaments has an Office in New York, which acts as its Permanent Observer at the United Nations.
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