The Lebanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Faud Butros, has warned that the situation throughout Lebanon was worrying, but not hopeless. Mr. Butros was speaking to reporters in Paris on Thursday (9 November).

SYNOPSIS: He had just arrived in Paris on his way to an Arab Foreign Ministers conference opening in Paris on Saturday (12 November). He said that, to restore order in his country, no formal agreement between Christians and Palestinians was necessary, only goodwill and a strong-enough neutral force to ensure that any peace was maintained.

Mr. Butros described the situation in his country as worrying because Lebanon's future was being subordinated to the will of different political parties. He was unwilling to predict just what that future would be. Until now, he said, every prophet has been wrong.

Before he left Beirut for Paris, Mr. Butros said his government would probably brief the United Nations Security Council on the latest events in southern Lebanon, which was attacked on Wednesday (9 November) by Israeli planes. Any briefing, he said, would stress the danger which may threaten peace.