Rice. First step
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Rice: UN draft alone won't fix Lebanon
US secretary of state describes draft UN ceasefire resolution as first step to stop violence in Middle East, but says Lebanese government must extend its authority into south so Hizbullah does not have control
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described a draft UN ceasefire resolution as a first step to stop violence in the Middle East, but said it cannot solve the problems in Lebanon.
Rice said the Lebanese government must extend its authority into the south so the militant Islamic group Hizbullah does not have control. She said the international community must help Lebanese forces be successful.
"We're trying to deal with a problem that has been festering and brewing in Lebanon now for years and years and years," Rice said. "And so it's not going to be solved by one resolution in the Security Council."
Rice spoke to reporters near President Bush's private ranch, where he was on a 10-day vacation from the White House. With the full United Nations Security Council considering a proposal developed by the US and the French, Rice was spending the weekend at the president's side.
The proposal calls for Hizbullah to stop all military operations and for Israel to stop its offensive drive against Lebanon. The proposal would allow Israel to strike back if Hezbollah were to break a ceasefire.
Rice said she expects a vote on the resolution in the next two or three days.
The Lebanese parliamentary speaker, a prominent Shiite who has been negotiating on behalf of Hizbullah, rejected the plan because it did not include an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli troops.
"I know Hizbullah has said all kinds of things. I've heard, 'We should have an immediate cease-fire,' I've heard, 'We'll keep fighting,' I've heard all of those things," she said. "When this UN security council resolution is passed, we're going to know who really did want to stop the violence and who didn't."
Israel says it won't pull its troops out of the south until a significant international military force deploys in the region.
Rice said a second proposal was being drafted at the UN that would form an international force.
"There are things the Israelis wanted and things the Lebanese wanted, and everybody wasn't going to get everything that they wanted," Rice said. "This is the international community's effort to bring about a reasonable, equitable basis for the cessation of hostilities of the kind that are so devastating to civilian populations."
Rice said Sunday that neither side is getting all that it wants from the UN resolution, but both sides have an obligation to adhere to the resolution. She expects some "skirmishes" will continue for a while.
