1.
SV PAN INT Leaders of Lebanese front seated (Camille Chamoun second from right: Suleiman Franjieh, right, seated at desk)
0.11

2.
SV PAN Other Leaders
0.21

3.
CU Franjieh PAN TO Chamoun
0.30

4.
CU Chamoun leaves room and speaks to reporters
1.22


TRANSCRIPT



CHAMOUN: "When small boys of ages one years old, two years old, three years old have been massacred, and women, old women, old people have been massacred what can you expect me to say about those criminals who have committed such atrocities. I condemn them a hundred per cent, and...I am going to meet President Sarkis tomorrow as there is a possible (indistinct) of keeping order and ask him what he has done up to now and what he is going to do in the very near future."




Initials BB/0010



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: INTRODUCTION: In the Lebanon on Friday (18 March), Christian leaders met for urgent talks following the wave of sectarian killings among Christian villagers in the aftermath of last Wednesday's (16 March) assassination of the left-wing leader Kamal Jumblatt. Prominent at the meeting was former President Camille Chamoun, who afterwards told newsmen that he would be meeting with President Elias Sarkis to demand what measures were being taken to ensure the arrest of those responsible for the sectarian revenge killings.

The Christian leaders met at Naccashe, east of Beirut, to discuss the wave of sectarian murders, principally from Kamal Jumblatt's own Chouf region.

The discussions came against the now daily background of fear and tension throughout Lebanon in the wake of Jumblatt's death. Various sources report that up to 200 people--many of them women and children--have been slaughtered in a wave of reprisal killings among Christian country villagers.

President Camille Chamoun condemned the killings when he spoke to newsmen after the meeting.