Posted on 08/18/2006 3:41:30 AM PDT by IrishMike
ROME (AP) - Italy's government on Friday formally agreed to send peacekeeping troops to Lebanon, though Premier Romano Prodi said the number of soldiers hadn't yet been determined.
The decision, made during a Cabinet meeting, was "absolutely, totally unanimous," Prodi said. It came one day after his office said he was pushing the United Nations for explicit ground rules for the peacekeeping force.
"It's an important choice for the country, which is aware of its implications and consequences," Prodi said.
The decision must eventually be approved by Parliament.
Italy has said previously it could quickly send as many as 3,000 soldiers to southern Lebanon to strengthen the existing U.N. force there. Prodi said Friday the number of soldiers would be decided in the coming days.
Italy has been trying to be a major player in efforts to end the fighting between Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah guerrillas.
Prodi, however, reiterated that he had been assured by U.N. officials, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, that the peacekeepers would not be charged with disarming Hezbollah.
French President Jacques Chirac announced Thursday that France will double to 400 its contingent in the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon. France leads the UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon, and has been closely watched over its role in an enhanced peacekeeping force in the region.
Bangladesh has made the largest offer of troops so far - up to 2,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.aol.com ...
This is going to be a mess.
More do nothing mess !!!!!
Five days into a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, there was still no firm date for a deployment of an enhanced international force that is supposed to expand to 15,000 troops and join an equal number of Lebanese soldiers.
The United Nations got pledges Thursday of 3,500 troops for the force, with Bangladesh making the largest offer of up to 2,000 troops. But France offered just 400, and Germany - uneasy given its Nazi past of any possible military confrontation with Israeli soldiers - said it wouldn't send any.
The Gendarmerie can TCB but not with the pussy roes that the UN has in store for them.
Italy 3000, France 200 => Italy has 15 times the balls France has.
Now that mission in Lebanon seem fitted to revamp French pride,but they want to command on the cheap while sending a fraction of troops compared to Italy.
Pressing the UN for ground rules.
1. Do not get in the way of Hezballah missile or weapons shipments.
2. You are there to observe , not do anything.
3. If you can make a buck out of this mess thats fine.
4.If you see movement on the Israeli side report it immediately.
5, If you see troops moving civilians into the danger area ,take that as warning and find a plac to hide.
***Italy 3000, France 200 => Italy has 15 times the balls France has.*******
And almost as many surrender flags.
Less French troops are a GOOD thing! See Ivory Coast, Somalia, Rwanda Congo, Etc.
If Italy is sending that many, they should command the operation. Give this operation a new name and MOVE ON.
Italy 3000, France 200 => Italy has 15 times the balls France has.
.
.
.
Always did.
And the 2,000 from Bangledesh want the food supplied by the UN ( US taxpayers)
They are afraid of getting shot.
https://registration.ft.com/registration/barrier?referer=http://www.ft.com/world/mideastafrica&location=http%3A//www.ft.com/cms/s/2aea843a-2cc3-11db-9845-0000779e2340.html
France insists that Hizbollah disarm ahead of troop move
By Martin Arnold in Paris, Roula Khalaf in London and Harvey,Morris in Jerusalem
Published: August 16 2006 03:00 | Last updated: August 16 2006 03:00
French officials yesterday in-sisted Paris would resist leading a bolstered international force in southern Lebanon without Lebanese government assurances that Hizbollah, the militant Shia group, would be disarmed.
The requirements were spelled out on the eve of today's visit by Philippe Douste-Blazy, French foreign minister, to Beirut - a visit likely to prove pivotal in deciding the fate of the multi-national United Nations force proposed to police the ceasefire between Hizbollah and Israel.
Addition benefits to being a UN peace keeper,
'hide the women'.
New allegations of sexual abuse by UN troops in DR Congo
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060817/wl_afp/drcongovoteprostitution_060817161348
"MONUC has received allegations about the existence of a major prostitution ring involving minors, close to a large concentration of Congolese soldiers and Blue Helmets (UN forces) in South Kivu, (in the) northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo," the UN mission said in a statement Thursday.
A MONUC spokeswoman in the South Kivu capital Bukavu told AFP: "To attract the girls, the pimps used as a major advantage the fact that the Blue Helmets were there and could have money."
The statement did not mention the nationalities of the peacekeepers implicated, but the spokeswoman, Sylvie van den Wildenberg, said the region had UN troops from India, Pakistan, South Africa and Uruguay.
She stressed that: "Most of the UN troops in South Kivu were ... members of a Pakistani contingent whose ethics have rarely been questioned ... (and) Indian troops who have never been targeted with allegations of this kind."
MONUC's reputation was sullied two years ago by revelations that peacekeepers were involved in the sexual abuse of 13-year-old girls.
The scandal broke in December 2004 when "at least 140 cases of allegations of sexual exploitation implicating MONUC personnel" were recorded, according to Jean Tobie Okala, MONUC's deputy spokesman in the capital Kinshasa.
A report at the time said that the allegations reflected a grave, long-term problem among UN peacekeepers.
"The investigation ... found that the problem was serious and ongoing," said the internal affairs report, on 72 cases of alleged abuse.
The report said 20 cases were sufficiently detailed to move forward. One of those involved a civilian UN employee and the other 19 were UN peacekeepers.
Sources close to the cases said the civilian employee was a Frenchman, later jailed in France, and that the soldiers in question hailed from Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, Tunisia and Uruguay.
The investigation was carried out in Bunia, Ituri, in the northeast of the DR Congo, from May to September 2004 after local media alleged peacekeeper abuse of women and young girls.
Many of the alleged acts were committed with "a feeling of impunity," the report noted.
The report also gave recommendations, especially that the UN demand member countries take "appropriate action" against offending soldiers.
The UN department of peacekeeper operations and MONUC should put into place a prevention program and should better inform soldiers what is expected of them when in contact with local populations, the report said.
Italians get along great with Lebanese. Its amost hard to tell them apart. They are both family oriented. They are also Jew friendly, gosh, how many inter marry in Brooklyn, no one keeps score anymore. Especially if you grew up in Bensonhurst you would understand what I am saying here.
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