LEBANON: French Defence Minister visits UNIFIL and French troops

French Defence Minister Michelle Alliot-Marie toured parts of southern Lebanon on Monday (September 18, 2006) and met members of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) including the peacekeeping body's chief of command Allain Pellegrini. Israel carried out 34-day assault on Lebanon after Lebanese Shiite Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on July 12. Nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed. Since the fighting ended with a U.N. brokered ceasefire on August 14, the Israeli army has been handing over control of southern Lebanon to UNIFIL II, an expanded version of the original peacekeeper garrison in the area. Alliot-Marie's visit comes ahead of the planned French troop deployment in south Lebanon and she said the role of the troops would be to avert any resumption of hostilities. France's contingent of forces came to Lebanon within the framework of a bilateral agreement between France and Lebanon, and are not part of the French soldiers affiliated with UNIFIL. "What I hope is that we are going to have the participation of all. I mean the diplomatic and the military participation -- that everyone can confirm well the respect of the Lebanese sovereignty. I think we are on the right track. "It's true that until all the problems are resolved, any one incident could could again put oil on the fire, so our role is the same as that of the United Nations, to support the Lebanese army and to not let any incident like this happen," Alliot-Marie said after addressing French troops at their base in the southern city of Naqoura. Pellegrini addressed the issue of lack of space for the ever-growing number of foreign contingents of peacekeeping forces, saying the expected numbers are perfectly in tune with UNIFIL plans and that the number of expected forces could still change. "I never said that the UNIFIL numbers would be 15,000. We said that it could arrive to this number but if in time we realise that we don't need to go up to this number, perhaps we will stop the deployment before, but we know that we can go up until this number," Pellegrini said. His comments are in relation to U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 which led to the ceasefire. The resolution calls for 15,000 troops to join a similar number of Lebanese army troops deploying in the south of the country. The bulk of French troops are expected to arrive in south Lebanon on Tuesday (September 19) by which time an almost 5,000 strong international force will be deployed in southern Lebanon, enabling Israel to withdraw from the area. The French contingent is expected to remain in the area of Deir Kifa and Qalaouay, near the base of the Italian contingent, until their permanent base further south, in the Baraachite area near Bint Jbeil is ready. The planned permanent base was still undergoing demining operations on Monday. The area is polluted with unexploded ordinance following the war.

ITN Source | September 19, 2006

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