LEBANON: Beirut awaits U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will discuss the deployment and role of a planned 15,000-strong peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon when he visits Beirut on Monday (August 28) for the first time since the Israel-Hizbollah war. Other issues are likely to include the lifting of an Israeli air and sea blockade of Lebanon, policing of the Lebanese-Syrian border to stop arms smuggling and a possible prisoner swap between Israel and the Lebanese Hizbollah guerrilla group. Residents of Beirut's Southern suburbs were generally hopeful ahead of the visit, saying they hoped Annan will be able to negotiate the withdrawal of israeli troops from Lebanon. The Southern suburbs, a Hizbollah stronghold, was badly hit during the war. "I hope that everything will be resolved with piece, and that he [Annan] will promise that the Israeli forces will leave Lebanon and that they will open the airport and remove the sea blockade. This is what I think, and I want life to return to normal, not just in the southern suburb, all across Lebanon," said Mohammed Mustafa. "We want the visit of the secretary general of the United Nations to be for the benefit of Lebanon. The secretary general must come to solve the problem of Lebanon," added another resident of Beirut's southern suburb. Annan, due to meet Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the speaker of the Lebanese parliament Nabih Berri, was seeking full implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, a U.N. spokesman said at the weekend. The resolution ended a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah on Aug. 14 but also made a series of demands on Israel, Lebanon and the international community which have yet to be met. It urged the reopening of Lebanon's airports and harbours, blockaded by Israel since the start of the war, and the securing of Lebanon's land borders to prevent arms smuggling. The resolution also called for the international community to provide enough troops to allow the United Nations to boost the size of its current UNIFIL force in Lebanon from 2,000 to 15,000. Annan discussed the European Union contribution to the expanded force with EU leaders in Brussels on Friday (August 25). He said France, which has promised 2,000 troops, would lead it until February when Italy, which has pledged 3,000, would take over. Israel wants U.N. troops to police the 375 km (233 miles) Lebanese-Syrian border to prevent the smuggling of arms to Hizbollah, but Syria has said such a move would be hostile and has threatened to close the border if it happens. That would effectively cut Lebanon off from the outside world as the country's only other land border is with Israel, with which it has no diplomatic ties. Resolution 1701 does not call for the deployment of U.N. troops to the Lebanese-Syrian border but asks UNIFIL to assist the Lebanese government "at its request" in securing the country's borders. Also expected to be discussed is the release of Israeli and Hizbollah prisoners, including two Israeli soldiers whose seizure by the Shi'ite Muslim group on July 12 sparked the war. Hizbollah wants to exchange them for some of the thousands of Arab prisoners, including Lebanese, in Israeli jails. Annan has said both sides will have to make "painful compromises" to get what they want. Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday (August 27) contacts had been made that might eventually lead to negotiations over prisoners. "It seems that Italy is trying to get into the subject. The United Nations is interested and the negotiations would be through Berri," Nasrallah said in a television interview. As well as visiting Beirut, Annan is expected to travel to southern Lebanon. He will go to Israel on Tuesday (August 29) and is also due to visit Syria and Iran as part of his Middle East tour. Two simultaneous car bombs, kill 9, wound 22.

ITN Source | August 28, 2006

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