OMEN
08-25-2006, 10:43 PM
BRUSSELS: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said he could raise 15,000 troops for a United Nations peace force in Lebanon as European nations overcame their reluctance to send soldiers.
After Italy pledged up to 3000 troops and France 2000, diplomats at an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels said Spain was ready to send up to 1200 troops and Poland a slightly smaller contingent.
Belgium offered up to 400 soldiers, and diplomats said current EU president Finland was readying a deployment of 200.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Europe's total contribution would be between 6500 and 7000 troops. Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said it would be 8000 to 9000. That would make the Europeans the core of the UN force.
Asked before meeting European foreign ministers whether he expected to be able to raise all the troops he sought to police a fragile truce between Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah, Annan said: "Not today, but I will get the 15,000."
But even as deployments began, French President Jacques Chirac, whose diplomats helped draft the August 11 UN Security Council resolution that authorised up to 15,000 peacekeepers to deploy in Lebanon, said that number was "completely excessive".
"It doesn't really make sense. So what is the right number, 4000, 5000 or 6000? I don't know," he told a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris.
UN officials want a strong European contingent alongside a sizeable Muslim component in the expanded UNIFIL force, which is to work with 15,000 Lebanese troops being deployed in the south. Malaysia, Indonesia and Nepal have offered contingents, while Turkey and Bangladesh are considering doing so.
The UN-backed truce took effect on August 14 after 34 days of fighting which cost the lives of nearly 1200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mainly soldiers.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was confident EU nations would together be able to form the core of the force.
"I don't want to give specific numbers but it will be a sufficient number to make a core," he told reporters.
EU countries feared getting caught in the crossfire of fresh hostilities and wanted assurances from Annan they would be able to defend themselves adequately, diplomats said.
"The significant move of the week was Annan coming here," said one envoy, adding that his presence reassured a number of nations that had previously hesitated to confirm pledges.
Some 150 French soldiers arrived by ship in Lebanon's southern port of Naqoura on Friday to join 50 extra troops already sent as part of France's first offer of 200.
Chirac defended his initial reluctance to send a big UN contingent, saying he would have been attacked as a "mad dog" had he authorised higher numbers without first gaining clear assurances about their mission and right to self-defence.
Israel wants the beefed-up UN force to move to the border before it withdraws fully from Lebanon. It also has vowed to keep its partial sea and air blockade on Lebanon until the force deploys on the Syrian border to prevent Hizbollah from rearming.
Lebanon said on Thursday it would seek technical assistance from Germany to help control the border with Syria, but had no immediate plans to ask UNIFIL to deploy soldiers there.
Syria has threatened to close the border – Lebanon's only land outlet – if UN troops are sent there.
"At the moment we are seeing some very unconstructive signals from Syria," Germany's Merkel said.
In a sharp public rebuke over his handling of the war in Lebanon, a poll published on Friday showed 63 per cent of Israelis want Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign.
The Yedioth Aronoth poll showed for the first time a majority favoured Olmert quitting, along with a surge in support for the rightwing Likud party and its leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
Olmert, a career politician who lacks the combat credentials of many of his predecessors, has seen his public standing plummet for failing to deliver a fatal blow to Hizbollah.
Israel has also pursued an offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, where hospital officials said eight people were wounded on Friday in air strikes on the home of a Palestinian militant and what the army said was a weapons depot.
The Israeli army has been trying to force the release of an Israeli soldier seized by militants from Gaza on June 25.
There has been no word on the fate of Corporal Gilad Shalit, but the Hamas-led Palestinian government said progress was being made towards the release of a Fox News correspondent and New Zealand cameraman seized by gunmen in the Gaza Strip on August 14.
Reuters
After Italy pledged up to 3000 troops and France 2000, diplomats at an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels said Spain was ready to send up to 1200 troops and Poland a slightly smaller contingent.
Belgium offered up to 400 soldiers, and diplomats said current EU president Finland was readying a deployment of 200.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Europe's total contribution would be between 6500 and 7000 troops. Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said it would be 8000 to 9000. That would make the Europeans the core of the UN force.
Asked before meeting European foreign ministers whether he expected to be able to raise all the troops he sought to police a fragile truce between Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah, Annan said: "Not today, but I will get the 15,000."
But even as deployments began, French President Jacques Chirac, whose diplomats helped draft the August 11 UN Security Council resolution that authorised up to 15,000 peacekeepers to deploy in Lebanon, said that number was "completely excessive".
"It doesn't really make sense. So what is the right number, 4000, 5000 or 6000? I don't know," he told a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Paris.
UN officials want a strong European contingent alongside a sizeable Muslim component in the expanded UNIFIL force, which is to work with 15,000 Lebanese troops being deployed in the south. Malaysia, Indonesia and Nepal have offered contingents, while Turkey and Bangladesh are considering doing so.
The UN-backed truce took effect on August 14 after 34 days of fighting which cost the lives of nearly 1200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mainly soldiers.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was confident EU nations would together be able to form the core of the force.
"I don't want to give specific numbers but it will be a sufficient number to make a core," he told reporters.
EU countries feared getting caught in the crossfire of fresh hostilities and wanted assurances from Annan they would be able to defend themselves adequately, diplomats said.
"The significant move of the week was Annan coming here," said one envoy, adding that his presence reassured a number of nations that had previously hesitated to confirm pledges.
Some 150 French soldiers arrived by ship in Lebanon's southern port of Naqoura on Friday to join 50 extra troops already sent as part of France's first offer of 200.
Chirac defended his initial reluctance to send a big UN contingent, saying he would have been attacked as a "mad dog" had he authorised higher numbers without first gaining clear assurances about their mission and right to self-defence.
Israel wants the beefed-up UN force to move to the border before it withdraws fully from Lebanon. It also has vowed to keep its partial sea and air blockade on Lebanon until the force deploys on the Syrian border to prevent Hizbollah from rearming.
Lebanon said on Thursday it would seek technical assistance from Germany to help control the border with Syria, but had no immediate plans to ask UNIFIL to deploy soldiers there.
Syria has threatened to close the border – Lebanon's only land outlet – if UN troops are sent there.
"At the moment we are seeing some very unconstructive signals from Syria," Germany's Merkel said.
In a sharp public rebuke over his handling of the war in Lebanon, a poll published on Friday showed 63 per cent of Israelis want Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign.
The Yedioth Aronoth poll showed for the first time a majority favoured Olmert quitting, along with a surge in support for the rightwing Likud party and its leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
Olmert, a career politician who lacks the combat credentials of many of his predecessors, has seen his public standing plummet for failing to deliver a fatal blow to Hizbollah.
Israel has also pursued an offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, where hospital officials said eight people were wounded on Friday in air strikes on the home of a Palestinian militant and what the army said was a weapons depot.
The Israeli army has been trying to force the release of an Israeli soldier seized by militants from Gaza on June 25.
There has been no word on the fate of Corporal Gilad Shalit, but the Hamas-led Palestinian government said progress was being made towards the release of a Fox News correspondent and New Zealand cameraman seized by gunmen in the Gaza Strip on August 14.
Reuters