Lebanese want to be dropped from UN travel ban list

Liberia’s Lebanese community has vowed to seek the removal of some of its members from a list of Liberian government officials, advisers and others on whom the United Nations has slapped a travel ban, PANA reported on Tuesday. The news agency cited the Liberian chapter of the World Lebanese Cultural Union as denying that any members of the country’s Lebanese community were “informal advisors” to Liberian President Charles Taylor, stated in a UN Security Council document of 4 June. “We are being accused of being involved in the politics of this country and the West Africa subregion. We deny these accusations,” George Haddad, president of the union, said. Lebanese citizens have been living in Liberia for 110 years, the union said, and have never been involved in the politics of the country nor been employed in government service.