Posted on 08/14/2006 4:56:55 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
PARIS - The French general who leads the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon said Monday he wants reinforcements quickly, warning that even one "stray act" could unravel a diplomatic effort to halt the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.
Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, in a telephone interview with The Associated Press, said a U.N. Security Council resolution approved Friday could give unprecedented new strength to the 28-year-old UNIFIL force that often has been criticized as ineffective in the past.
Diplomats and military advisers were working Monday to decide which countries could help boost the 2,000-strong force to 15,000, as was approved in Friday's hard-won resolution.
"They need to arrive as quickly as possible," Pellegrini said. "But before that, there is something that can be done quickly — a deployment of the Lebanese army" in the battle-scarred region.
The region remains vulnerable to "a provocation, or a stray act, that could undermine everything," said Pellegrini, who is based in the Lebanese town of Naqoura, near the Israeli border.
Stephane Dujarric, a U.N. spokesman in New York, said UNIFIL had sent out a number of patrols Monday who reported that the situation on the ground was "calm but tense."
"While there have been a number of sporadic clashes, in general both sides seem to be exercising restraint," he said.
The U.N. plan calls for a joint Lebanese-international force to move south of the Litani River, about 18 miles from the Israeli border, and act as a buffer between Israel and armed Hezbollah fighters.
Disarming Hezbollah is not the job of peacekeepers and must be "a Lebanese affair," the French general said.
Thousands of Israeli troops are now deployed in the region after the militant group fired more than 3,500 rockets into northern Israel over the past month. As Israeli forces withdraw, an estimated 15,000 Lebanese troops are expected to move in — possibly starting as early as Wednesday or Thursday, senior Israeli military officials said, citing details of discussions with Lebanese authorities.
Pellegrini said a Monday meeting with an Israeli general and a Lebanese general to discuss implementation of the resolution was "very constructive."
The discussion focused on the timeline of the Israeli withdrawal and the deployment into south Lebanon, which was under Hezbollah's control, Dujarric said.
Dujarric said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was "working the phones" and spoke to the European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana, French officials, and others around the world on Monday trying to generate troops for a more robust UNIFIL.
The U.N. Peacekeeping Department met Saturday with military advisers from 17 potential contributing countries — Muslim as well as European. Another meeting was scheduled later Monday, diplomats said.
France is expected to lead the beefed-up U.N. force, but U.N. officials and diplomats said it has not yet made any announcement of how many troops it plans to send — and that was holding up announcements of troop commitments from other countries.
According to diplomats and officials, France wants the United Nations to spell out exactly what a more robust U.N. force could and should do before it decides on the number of troops to contribute.
The blue-helmeted UNIFIL force is mainly composed of troops from Ghana and India, and about 200 are French soldiers. The force suffered six deaths and 13 injuries during the violence that killed hundreds of people, obliterated roads, buildings and bridges, and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing their homes, Pellegrini said.
Over the years, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has been relegated to the role of hapless bystanders — and at times victims — of intermittent commando raids, attacks and skirmishes across the so-called "Blue Line" separating Israel and Lebanon.
Pellegrini acknowledged that the peacekeepers have not always been effective over the years, but insisted that the U.N. soldiers had shown they would not be driven away as the violence raged.
"We were very saddened to see villages destroyed, columns of refugees, the region totally devastated. Of course, it breaks your heart," he said. "Despite it all, we kept our flag flying high."
___
Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Ravi Nessman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
French peacekeepers of UNIFIL stand guard in a street in the city of Tyre, one day after an Israel air strike targeted the southern Lebanese village of Qana. Shock and fury at an Israeli air strike that killed 52 Lebanese civilians, mostly sleeping children, rippled across the world from the United Nations to the streets of Arab capitals.(AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)
Call out the French Foreign Legion. They are the ONLY French outfit that can do the job.
How about an even dozen?
Apparently Hez-Ebola has already fired some rockets at Israeli forces in Southern Lebanon.
BTW- DO these UN peacekeepers want some bodyguards too??
I thought that number dropped to 19???
What ever they do, they had better hurry - the Hezbos are firing rockets now but not crossing into Israel, stopping just short of the border.
I think the French Gen. needs more white flags.
I was wondering the same thing, if they want a truly international force, send in the FRench Foreign Legion.
U.N. peacekeepers need troops
Haven't we been down this road before? The 4 U.N. peacekeepers who were killed 3 weeks ago, including the Canadian, were acting as human shields for Hizbollah's "troops".
Our so-called "leaders" keep learning nothing from history .
Interesting tactic. By firing only into Lebanon they will claim that they are only fighting the occupation and not attacking Israeli's - particularly Israeli citizens.
Hey Froggie; ask the German's. I hear it told they have pretty good troops. Not know for waving the white flag.
Yes, something to be quite proud of - being totally irrelevant and ineffective.
I should know this, but I wonder if the UNIFIL peacekeepers even had ammo issued to them?
Good question. I always assumed so but for what reason?
I know.. I wonder now what good would it do but to make it worse.
"We were very saddened to see villages destroyed, columns of refugees, the region totally devastated. Of course, it breaks your heart," he said. "Despite it all, we kept our flag flying high."
Yeah and no mention of who started/caused it all......
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