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French troops join Lebanon force

Posted on: Friday, 25 August 2006, 03:38 CDT

By Nadim Ladki

BEIRUT (Reuters) - About 150 French soldiers joined U.N. troops in Lebanon on Friday as European ministers prepared to meet U.N. chief Kofi Annan to clinch Europe's role in a force charged with reinforcing a truce between Israel and Hizbollah.

Italy has offered up to 3,000 troops and France boosted its pledge to 2,000 on the eve of the Brussels meeting; but other contributions to the potentially hazardous mission have been meager, despite prompting from the United States and others.

Belgium, however, pledged an "important participation" in the force on Friday.

The French soldiers who arrived by ship in the southern port of Naqoura are part of France's initial offer of 200 extra soldiers. Around 50 French troops arrived last week.

Finland, which will chair emergency talks of the European Union's 25 foreign ministers and the U.N. secretary-general, insisted the EU's credibility was at stake and that it must show it can deploy rapidly to protect a fragile ceasefire.

"The main thrust of the force should be there within a few weeks because every day there is a risk that the ceasefire could unravel," said Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

U.N. officials see a strong European contingent as vital to the balance of an expanded peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL, which is set to have up to 15,000 troops and to work alongside a similar number of Lebanese soldiers in the south.

The U.N.-backed truce took effect on August 14 after 34 days of fighting which cost the lives of nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and 157 Israelis, mainly soldiers.

President Jacques Chirac, who disappointed allies by initially offering only to double an existing French contingent to 400, said France would increase its deployment after winning assurances they would be able to defend themselves robustly.

President Bush hailed the new French offer.

"This is an important step toward finalising preparations to deploy the United Nations Interim Force of Lebanon," he said.

"WEAK ARMY"

Israel wants the beefed-up U.N. force to deploy alongside the Lebanese army before it withdraws fully from Lebanon. It also has vowed to keep its partial sea and air blockade on Lebanon until the force is monitoring the border with Syria.

"Israel doesn't expect or request that international forces arrive to defend its borders. Israel is capable of defending itself and that is what we plan to do," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.

"But the international forces are needed to help the Lebanese army -- which is unfortunately a weak army -- to deploy in the south and replace Hizbollah in south Lebanon and of course, to enforce the arms embargo on Hizbollah."

Lebanon said on Thursday it would seek technical assistance from Germany to help control the border with Syria, but had no immediate plans to ask UNIFIL to deploy soldiers there.

Syria threatened a day earlier to close the border if U.N. troops were sent there.

In a sharp public rebuke over his handling of the war in Lebanon, a poll published on Friday showed 63 percent of Israelis want Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign.

The Yedioth Aronoth poll showed for the first time a majority favoured Olmert quitting, along with a surge in support for the rightwing Likud party and its leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Another poll in Maariv newspaper showed only 14 percent of Israelis would vote for Olmert if new elections were held today, while 26 percent would back Netanyahu, a former prime minister.

The Yedioth poll said 45 percent would support Netanyahu as prime minister in new elections.

Yedioth, Israel's biggest circulation daily, called the poll a political "earthquake" for Olmert, whose centrist Kadima party crushed Netanyahu's Likud in March elections. A similar survey a week ago showed 41 percent wanted Olmert to resign.

Olmert, a career politician who lacks the combat credentials of many of his predecessors, has seen his public standing plummet for failing to deliver a fatal blow to Hizbollah.

(Additional reporting by Jerusalem and Brussels bureaux)

Source: REUTERS

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