Jackson News Tribune : Annan says U.N. won‘t ‘wage war‘

Annan says U.N. won‘t ‘wage war‘

By EDITH M. LEDERER | Associated Press Writer | August 19, 2006

UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to U.N. member states to provide desperately needed U.N. peacekeeping troops for Lebanon and assured them the U.N. force would not "wage war" on Israel , Lebanon, or Hezbollah militants.

"It is not expected to achieve by force what must be realized through negotiation and an internal Lebanese consensus," Annan said in a report to the U.N. Security Council U.N. Security Council on implementation of the Aug. 11 resolution calling for an end to the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict.

Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said countries needed to understand that the force wouldn‘t be offensive. "It‘s not going to go in there and attempt large-scale disarmament," he said.

Malloch Brown welcomed Italy‘s announcement that it will contribute, though it gave no numbers, and Finland‘s pledge of 250 troops. But he stressed that more European nations are needed for the vanguard force of 3,500 troops that the U.N. wants on the ground by Aug. 28 to help ensure that the truce between Israel and Lebanon holds.

"However, I would caution that the situation is still very fragile," Annan said. "I call on all parties to do their utmost to ensure that the cessation of hostilities holds and to transform it into a durable cease-fire."

Assuming the cessation of hostilities does hold, Annan said the next reinforcements for the U.N. force, up to 3,500 troops, are needed by Oct. 5, and a third and final wave of up to 3,000 troops will be needed by Nov. 4.

Annan praised the first meeting in a decade of Israeli and Lebanese generals with the U.N. force commander and the positive start to Lebanon‘s phased deployment and Israel‘s phased withdrawal.

Annan told the council that the 2,000-strong U.N. force, known as UNIFIL, has reported "only a handful of isolated violations of the cessation of hostilities since it came into effect."

The U.N. troops found "four dead bodies of Hezbollah members, which were later taken away in an ambulance," he said.

"There was no response from the other side and the situation in the area remains calm," he said.

Every day, he said, UNIFIL has observed Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace at least once and up to four times.

Annan called on the Lebanese and Israeli governments "to work resolutely towards a long-term solution and a permanent cease-fire."

"A reinforced UNIFIL is not going to wage war on any of the actors in the theater," Annan said, and it cannot be "a substitute for a political process."

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.