UN General Assembly
1987

The 13 years of war that we have survived have demonstrated beyond question that there is no substitute for or alternative to the role of legitimate and accepted institutions. Hence our determination to support our appeal to international legitimacy with a consolidated internal consensus of constitutional legitimacy. Indeed, all past attempts to bypass the legitimate forces and seek internal and external security arrangements with illegal militias have ended in tragic failures. External powers have come up against the same realities in Lebanon. Their attempts to deal with forces outside the recognized legal institutions of the State have not only resulted in similar failures but compounded their problem. The agony of State power, of sovereignty unable to exercise full authority, is coming to an end. People are increasingly disenchanted with the divisive sectarian forces which have brought Lebanon to the threshold of partition or annexation. A credible central Government, even if challenged by various partitionists and their foreign inspirers, remains the only rallying point for the vast majority of the Lebanese, whatever their religious community.