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Photo: Reuters
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Photo: Reuters
Photo: Reuters
Israeli envoy to UN Danny Gillerman
Photo: Reuters

UN to Europe: Send more troops to Lebanon

UN deputy secretary-general appeals to European nations to contribute troops to peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon and balance commitments from Muslim countries

The United Nations appealed to European countries Friday to contribute troops to an expanded UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon to balance the commitments from Muslim countries so that both Israel and Lebanon will view it as legitimate.

 

Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said there was promising news from Italy and Finland. But he stressed that more European nations are needed for the vanguard force of 3,500 troops that the UN wants on the ground by Aug. 27 to help ensure a ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah gunmen in south Lebanon.

 

Italy formally endorsed sending troops to Lebanon but did not commit itself to specific numbers. Finland formally decided to send up to 250 peacekeepers to Lebanon, but said they would not be deployed until November. At a meeting of 49 potential troop contributing nations on Thursday, the only countries to offer mechanized infantry battalions which will be the front line of the expanded force were three Muslim countries which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel - Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia - and Nepal, which is predominantly Hindu.

 

Malloch Brown stressed that the final decision on the composition of the force will be made by the United Nations, but he said "it's very important that Europe now steps forward."

 

"We want this force that we deploy to have a kind of multinational, multilateral character so that it enjoys the confidence of both sides," he said. "The particular appeal I want to make today is that Europe comes forward with troops for this first wave."

 

Gillerman: UN can compose, not impose force

Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Gillerman told the AP that "the resolution makes it very clear that the force will have to be agreed on by Lebanon and Israel. This is a force which the UN can compose but not impose." "Israel has not ruled anybody out, and is not in any way ruling out Arab and Muslim countries," he stressed.

 

"It would, in fact, welcome the participation of Arab and Muslim countries. However, the participation of countries who are hostile to Israel or do not recognize Israel's right to exist would be unthinkable."

 

Malloch Brown said the United Nations has been seeking "a Muslim-European or European-Muslim force" not only because of the interest of both groups in helping to maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Hizbullah gunmen in southern Lebanon but because the combination provides "a legitimacy that satisfies both sides to this conflict." "We want this force that we deploy to have a kind of multinational, multilateral character so that it enjoys the confidence of both sides," He said.

 

US: France will increase its commitment 

France, which commands the current 2,000-strong force known as UNIFIL, had been expected to make a significant new contribution that would form the backbone of the expanded force. But French President Jacques Chirac disappointed the United Nations and other countries by announcing that France would contribute just 200 combat engineers to its current 200-member contingent in Lebanon.

 

In Washington, State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters "I expect we haven't heard the last from them." Privately, a senior US official said the United States is confident France will increase its commitment and added that the French have "not given us any indication they are backing away from being in the lead" Of the expanded force.

 

Malloch Brown praised Germany's offer of a substantive maritime component which the German ambassador said could patrol and secure the whole of the Lebanese coast to make sure that weapons or other related materials don't get into Lebanon." Germany also offered customs agents, police and border protection agents to patrol the Syrian border.

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.18.06, 21:56
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