BELGIUM: EU diplomats meet in Brussels to decide on troop contributions to Lebanon.

EU diplomats and ambassadors met in Brussels on Wednesday (August 23) to prepare the ground for an extraordinary meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers to decide on the EU's troop contributions to Lebanon at the end of the week. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to attend the Friday (August 25) meeting. Diplomats said they believe his presence was likely to yielding commitments. He is expected to explain how the UN force, known as UNIFIL, will operate. According to a UN document obtained by Reuters, new rules of engagement for the UN troops permit soldiers to shoot in self-defence, use force to protect civilians and resist armed attempts to interfere with their duties. Italy was to press wary fellow EU states, also on Wednesday, to back up its pledge of troops by sending their soldiers to join a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Rome announced on Tuesday (August 22) it could provide as many as 3,000 troops out of a European contingent of anything up to 9,000. The UN has authorised a total force of 15,000 and is concerned that hostilities could reignite if the deployment is delayed. With France offering just 200 troops for now and others concerned about getting caught up in a conflict without an adequate mandate to defend themselves, it is still not clear how a substantial European contingent would be built. One EU diplomat has said that Italy would be "making an appeal for others to come forward" but added that no pledges were expected on Wednesday. Potential contributors, including Belgium, Spain and Nordic countries such as Finland, are concerned that the exact nature of the mission is not clearly defined. Others such as Britain and the Netherlands stress their military commitments elsewhere. The 15,000 UN troops are due to work alongside a similar number of Lebanese soldiers deployed in the south to support a truce which ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas. Nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the violence. European troops are considered vital if the United Nations is to assemble an advance party of 3,500 troops by Sept. 2. But EU states say they want greater clarity about how the force will go about its tasks. These are not expected to include mass disarming of Hizbollah but could involve ensuring no arms are smuggled into Lebanon across its borders. Italy's commitment stems from its proximity to the Middle East and new Prime Minister Romano Prodi's wish to reverse the isolation in Europe that Rome suffered because of the pro-U.S. stance of his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi. France has disappointed some allies by appearing to downgrade its troop pledge but Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy indicated on Wednesday that Paris could dispatch more soldiers once the terms of the mission were set. French sources did not rule out further reinforcements being sent once the rules of engagement -- the code governing how the U.N. troops will be allowed to operare -- were set.

ITN Source | August 24, 2006

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