U.S. to offer rules governing Lebanon peacekeeping force

Israeli officials don't want troops from countries that don't recognize Israel.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
UNITED NATIONS -- U.N. diplomats worked behind the scenes Monday to secure troops for an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon as President Bush announced the U.S. would introduce a new resolution clarifying how those troops would interact with Hezbollah fighters.
"There will be another resolution coming out of the United Nations giving further instructions to the international force. First-things-first is to get the rules of engagement clear, so that the force will be robust to help the Lebanese," Bush told a news conference in Washington, where he also pledged $230 million in aid for Lebanon.
But French and American diplomats at the U.N. warned that countries should not wait for a resolution before offering much-needed soldiers to shore up the fragile week-old truce.
"There's no reason that it should hold up the deployment," said U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton, who confirmed that the U.S. would seek another resolution.
The 15,000 additional U.N. soldiers will be deployed along with 15,000 troops from the Lebanese army, which holds the responsibility for disarming Hezbollah. The draft rules of engagement appear to allow U.N. soldiers to defend themselves or to use force to stop arms smuggling or disarm Hezbollah fighters if the peacekeepers meet resistance. But military leaders want to be clear who will be leading their soldiers and how much they will be expected to engage guerrilla fighters.
Here's the concern
"It's obviously a very dangerous situation," Bolton said. "Countries that are trying to make this decision want to be sure that their troops will have the maximum opportunity to defend themselves."
Italian Prime Minister Roman Prodi offered 2,000 troops Monday and said that his country stood ready to lead the force that will enter South Lebanon as the Israeli army completes its withdrawal, U.N. officials said. Turkey, Spain and Finland also are considering significant troop commitments.
But other European countries have been hesitant to offer additional peacekeepers called for in the Aug. 11 resolution that ended the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, concerned that they would be required to make peace instead of keeping it.
France, a co-sponsor of the resolution, had been expected to contribute thousands of troops and lead the force, but has so far offered only to double its 200 soldiers in the existing 2,000-member United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, causing other European countries to get cold feet. French diplomats said Monday they did not support a second resolution to clarify terms.
European Union diplomats will meet Wednesday in Brussels to discuss the region's troop commitments and who should lead the force, and France has called for a further meeting of foreign ministers Friday.
Israeli officials have rejected substantial troop offers from Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh, saying that they did not want soldiers from countries that did not recognize Israel to be so close to its border.
Where U.N. stands
U.N. diplomats said that Israel does not have the right to veto U.N. peacekeepers that are not deployed on its soil, especially when they are so direly needed, but the U.N. does not want to create more political problems in the beleaguered region.
"We would want to deploy a force that is workable politically and militarily," said U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
Monday, U.N. envoys Terje Roed-Larsen and Vijay Nambiar met in Israel with the nation's senior leaders to discuss Israel's position. They had also been in Lebanon, meeting with leaders there.
"The government of Israel has no veto over the UNIFIL troop composition," said a Western diplomat in Beirut, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We think this is horse-trading. They're putting on some pressure to keep the number of troops from Muslim countries down and the number from European countries like Italy and France up."