President John Dramani Mahama has reportedly regretted describing the Lebanese resident�s movement, Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly.
A source close to the presidency told �The Insight� that when the President first saw the reference to Hezbollah in the draft speech he ordered his writers to remove it.
Strangely, the reference re-appeared in the final speech read at the UN to the embarrassment of the President and Ghana.
The source claimed that efforts are being made to establish how the reference to Hezbollah re-appeared in the President�s speech.
Hezbollah is a national liberation movement resisting the occupation of Palestine and Lebanese and has 27 seats in the Lebanese Parliament whose Speaker is a member of the organization.
In June 2000, Mr. Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the UN defended his contact with the Hezbollah leader, Chief Sayyid Nassrullah saying that organization is a major player in Lebanon.
Hezbollah is widely respected in the Middle East and the Gulf as a humanitarian organization.
It repelled Israeli aggression in Lebanon 3 years ago and has called for the withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Arab lands.
The office of the Shia National Imam in Ghana has described the reference to Hezbollah as a terrorist organization as unfortunate.
It said such reference �could be used as a propaganda tool by the evil hands of arrogance and Zionist agents to mar the regulation of a religious and socio-political organization which has a huge democratic representation in the Lebanese parliament and undertakes development and humanitarian projects in the region and beyond.
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