Annan, G8 Call for International Peacekeepers in Middle East
July 17, 2006
As violence continued unabated for a sixth day in the Middle East, international efforts to find a solution to end the bloodshed took on new urgency.
Speaking at the Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan raised the idea of dispatching a new military observer force to the region which has been reeling under retaliatory Israeli assaults on southern Lebanon to free three kidnapped Israeli soldiers and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel. The death toll has climbed to over 160, with civilians bearing the brunt of the conflict.
"The UN needs time and space to make sure we have the troops -- well-trained, well-equipped troops -- to go in quite quickly," Annan said. "The sooner decisions are taken by the (UN) Security Council, the better it is."
Annan said a team of UN officials in the crisis region would report to the Security Council by the end of the week. He urged countries not to delay sending troops for the planned Middle East peace operation.
Annan, however, gave no indication of the number of troops required, nor any deadlines for the deployment.
Merkel, Chirac welcome idea
Annan's proposal has been largely welcomed by G8 leaders.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the G8 was determined to strengthen Lebanon's central government as part of efforts to end Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel.
"I think it make sense to have such a force based there," Merkel said, adding that she envisaged expanding the current UN operation in southern Lebanon.
Some 1,991 UN soldiers have been based in Lebanon since 1978. Called UNIFIL, the force has patrolled the hilly roads bordering on Israel in its white vehicles but proved powerless to rein in guerrillas or stem Israeli retaliation.
The force proved ineffective when Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 to flush out Palestinian fighters who had attacked its northern border settlements. UNIFIL's mandate was to verify an Israeli withdrawal, restore international peace and security, and assist the government of Lebanon "in ensuring the return of its effective authority in the area."
French President Jacques Chirac also backed the idea of a new force in Lebanon and called for setting up a surveillance border along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
"We cannot allow things to go on as they are. We have to have a means of repression and surveillance," Chirac said.
He added that the force's mandate should include disarming Hezbollah militias who have been launching rocket attacks on Israel.
Blair: Force should have more bite
Finland, which currently heads the European Union presidency, also said the EU and its member states would be ready to participate in a UN peacekeeping force for Lebanon. But it stressed that such a force is only an idea for the moment.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair also appeared to back the idea of an international force. Blair said Monday that the proposed force must have more bite and "far greater" numbers than the current UN observer mission already there.
"The mission will have to be far more specific and clearer, and the force employed will have to be far greater," Blair told reporters, adding however that it would "take time" for it to deploy.
European External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner called the notion of a temporary buffer force an "interesting proposal."
US, Israel not convinced
However, many doubt whether sending a new force to the region could halt the current violence.
The United States was cautious, saying it wanted to hear the recommendations of a UN fact-finding mission and Israel dismissed talk of a multilateral security presence as premature.
Meanwhile, intense diplomacy aimed at ending the bloodshed is under way with France's Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin flying to Beirut shortly after a visit by the European Union's chief diplomat, Javier Solana, to the Lebanese capital.
The UN Security Council also picked up talks from Saturday when it failed to reach agreement on a call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.