USA: U.N. Department for Peacekeeping Operations hold ifirst meeting with officials of potential states that will contribute troops to enlarged UNIFIL peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon.

U.N. Department for Peacekeeping Operations on Thursday (August 17) held its first meeting with officials of potential states that will contribute troops to the enlarged UNIFIL peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown pressed ambassadors from dozens of countries to tell the world body "in the next few days at most" how many soldiers they would contribute and when, after France sent planners into a tailspin by offering only a token number of soldiers. "We must convert promises into firm commitments, and commitments into rapid deployments on the ground. Every moment we delay is a moment of risk that the fighting could re-erupt," Malloch Brown told the closed-door meeting, according to a text of his remarks. The United Nations had counted on France to lead an advance contingent of up to 3,500 fresh troops that it hoped could be in place within two weeks. Paris already has some 200 troops in the existing 2,000-member U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, and leads the operation. Instead, Paris said it would offer just 200 more soldiers. Many of the 49 ambassadors invited to the meeting had been expected to begin making specific commitments, based on the assumption that a command structure and rules of engagement were in place. The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday (August 11) authorizing the deployment of as many as 15,000 troops to enforce a cease-fire in the month long war between Israel and Lebanon's Hizbollah. The U.N. force was to help 15,000 Lebanese troops that have begun moving into the south to enable Israeli forces to withdraw while ensuring Hizbollah fighters do not rearm.

ITN Source | August 18, 2006

Tags:. .few. .based. .usa. .pressed. .expected