UN official warns of renewed bloodshed in Lebanon August 18, 2006 Haaretz Original Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/751798.html A top UN official pressed governments on Thursday for quick commitments of troops to a beefed-up peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon, warning that delays could lead to renewed Middle East bloodshed. UN 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. United Nations officials scrambled to put together the peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon on Thursday after France sent planning into a tailspin when announcing that it would offer just 200 soldiers. France had been expected to lead the force with several thousand of its own troops. Germany pledged on Thursday to provide police, customs agents, aircraft and ships to a U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon to prevent arms from flowing into the country by land from Syria or by sea. Today I was in a position to offer a rather substantive maritime component which is so encompassing that it could patrol and secure the whole of the Lebanese coast to make sure that no weapons or other related materials get into Lebanon, German UN Ambassador Thomas Matussek said. We could also offer a rather substantial border patrol along the Syrian border, Matussek said after a meeting at UN headquarters of countries interested in supporting the peacekeeping force in Lebanon. The offer was contingent on parliamentary approval, he said. Bangladesh also pledged up to 2,000 troops to be deployed in Lebanon. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said many countries had expressed interest in contributing to the force. We are doing our best to move ahead, he said. 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-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and leads the operation. French President Jacques Chirac assured UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan by phone that his government might yet send in more soldiers depending on the precise mission and rules of engagement, Chirac's office said. In the meantime, he said the 1,700 troops serving in its air and naval forces in the region would remain in place for the time being, although not be put under UN command. France's reticence surprised many UN officials and diplomats, since Paris was a key author of the resolution which spelled out the mandate, and had insisted that all troops be under UN command as Lebanon demanded. France's hesitancy was bound to have an impact on Thursday's meeting of potential troop contributors. In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had spoken to French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy over France's role and the general situation in Lebanon. Casey said he hoped for greater clarity on contributions from France and others after the New York meeting. In New York, Dujarric, acknowledging the French move would have an impact on potential contributors, said a second meeting might be called for early next week to firm up commitments. Asked whether the concept of a UN force held together by a large unit of well-equipped and highly-trained troops from a single nation would now have to be revisited, Dujarric said the world body would adapt to whatever countries provide us and give us firm offers on. Rice: UN force won't physically disarm Hezbollah U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was quoted in an American newspaper Thursday as saying that the UN force expected to deploy in south Lebanon will not be tasked with forcibly disarming Hezbollah. I don't think there is an expectation that this [UN] force is going to physically disarm Hezbollah, Rice told USA Today. I think it's a little bit of a misreading about how you disarm a militia. You have to have a plan, first of all, for the disarmament of the militia, and then the hope is that some people lay down their arms voluntarily. If Hezbollah resists international demands to disarm, Rice said, one would have to assume that there will be others who are willing to call Hezbollah what we are willing to call it, which is a terrorist organization. Rice did say the UN force in Lebanon will help enforce an arms embargo and prevent Hezbollah's rearmament. [The force] is backed up by an international arms embargo for the first time, which means that those states that now supply Hezbollah are in violation of a UN Security Council resolution and that should help the forces as well. And then ultimately, it's going to have to help the Lebanese at various entry points to help enforce that embargo, Rice said. Italy: Our troops won't disarm Hezbollah Italian soldiers in a planned UN force for Lebanon will not be expected to disarm Hezbollah but to help the Lebanese army impose its authority, said Italy's foreign minister in a magazine interview. It is wrong to say that our soldiers are going to disarm Hezbollah, Massimo D'Alema told L'Espresso in an interview made available to Reuters a day ahead of publication on Friday. A UN-brokered truce on Monday halted a 34-day military confrontation between Israel and the Iranian-backed group in which more than 1,100 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, were killed. Italy has promised one of the largest contributions to a UN force of up to 15,000 troops to monitor a truce between Israel and Hezbollah. Up to 3,000 Italians are expected to take part, but Rome is demanding their role be clearly defined. Potential troop-contributing nations are due to meet UN peacekeeping officials on Thursday to discuss the operation ground rules. Prime Minister Romano Prodi phoned UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday offering a significant contribution but also seeking a clear mandate, without ambiguities and with very precise rules of engagement, his office said. France is considering providing only a symbolic force for the United Nations contingent in Lebanon, and not the thousands of troops UN officials had hoped, Le Monde newspaper said on Thursday. If true, such a move could seriously delay the UN mission, seen as vital to securing peace between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, or even scupper the whole operation. Quoting UN and diplomatic sources, Le Monde said France might send just a dozen officers and around 200 personnel from an engineering division for the beefed-up UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). President Jacques Chirac's office said the military options were still under review. A French diplomatic source said France had always highlighted the dangers of such a mission and said the conditions for the operation had to be clarified. The source added there was no turnaround in the French position and no misunderstanding with the United Nations. French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Wednesday that France was willing to lead the UN force until at least February, so long as it was given a clear mandate. However, she declined to say how many troops France would commit to UNIFIL, which is eventually expected to consist of 15,000 soldiers, up from 2,000 at present. The United Nations hopes France will lead advance contingents of up to 3,500 troops to south Lebanon which the world body wants to field within two weeks. Lebanese cabinet won't force Hezbollah to disarm According to the cabinet decision, Hezbollah will not disarm in southern Lebanon, but its members will refrain from carrying weapons in public. The agreement was reached following deliberations with Hezbollah representatives that lasted days. The Lebanese government's decision contradicts United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, reached last week, which determines that the area south of the Litani River will be free of arms, aside from those held by Lebanese soldiers and UNIFIL troops. The cabinet made the decision after Hezbollah rejected all demands to disarm south of the Litani. The weapons of the resistance are the only ones, of all Arabs, that succeeded in standing up to Israel and defeating it. No one can take away the weapons of the resistance, certainly not by force, pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, who headed the cabinet meeting, said. The Lebanese army will deploy [in the south] and will be for all the Lebanese, he told reporters. Al-Jazeera reported Wednesday that Hezbollah rejected all proposals, including that it transfer its weapons to the Lebanese army, transfer its weapons to UNIFIL or allow the Lebanese army to search the organization's positions for weapons. A compromise was reached, according to which Hezbollah will not conduct military activities in southern Lebanon. The government decision does not mention collecting Hezbollah weapons, but only that there will not be an armed military presence of Hezbollah in the south, or of any factor aside from the Lebanese army or UNIFIL. Hezbollah's top official in south Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, told reporters in Tyre that the group welcomes the Lebanese army's additional deployment in the south. Just like in the past, Hezbollah had no visible military presence and there will not be any visible presence now, he said. That was the strongest indication that the guerrillas would not disarm in the region or withdraw, but rather melt into the local population and hide their weapons. The United States welcomed the Lebanese decision to deploy troops. It shows their commitment by a democratically elected government to holding the peace, to holding this cessation of violence, their willingness to act in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions, State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters.