Solana: Lebanon peacekeeping force a 'real possibility'
A senior EU official said today sending an international peacekeeping force to Lebanon would be a difficult, but crucial part of an overall solution to end the country’s political instability.
“We work night and day to try to resolve a dramatic problem (in a) country very close to us,” said the EU's foreign and security affairs chief Javier Solana.
He said deploying a multi-national force “under the umbrella of the United Nations Security Council” would be a difficult undertaking, but “a real possibility”.
Separately, an EU diplomat said that at an international meeting in Rome today, there will be pressure for a ceasefire. But wary of concerns in Washington and EU nations that a ceasefire will lock Israel into a stand-off with Hezbollah, it will be discussed as part of an overall, long-term solution to Lebanon’s instability.
“Lebanon is in such a terrible state, a ceasefire can only happen as part of an overall solution to its political instability,” said the diplomat.
Solana said it was not easy to put together an international peacekeeping force but that “several European Union nations” would contribute troops and hardware.
“We continue working on it,” Solana told a news conference with Saad Hariri, Lebanon’s parliamentary majority leader. “I cannot be more precise at this point in time.
“This is a format that will be difficult. The objective is to guarantee sovereignty and freedom for Lebanon.”
Hariri pleaded for “massive amounts of humanitarian aid” and international help to guarantee his nation’s freedom and sovereignty.
“This must stop (so that it) doesn’t happen again,” said Hariri of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants that has engulfed his nation and caused the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.
“We don’t want another war in Lebanon. We don’t want Lebanon to be used as a territory for other conflicts. We need Lebanon to be a free and sovereign country.”
Solana said the main issues facing Wednesday’s international conference on Lebanon in Rome will be an end to the current fighting, humanitarian aid deliveries and the country’s future security arrangement that sees an international stabilisation force deployed there under the auspices of the United Nations.
The so-called Lebanon core group includes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, France, Russia, Britain, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union. Also invited to the conference were Spain and Germany.
There is no unanimity within the EU on the way forward for Lebanon. Like the United States, the EU is not keen on calling for ceasefire as Israel has made clear it will not agree to that for fear of locking itself into an unresolved military stand-off with Hezbollah.
The Lebanese government has pleaded with Washington to press Israel to call a ceasefire in bombardment that has demolished Lebanon’s infrastructure and killed hundreds.
US President George Bush opposes that, saying the root cause of the conflict must be resolved.
Israeli prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Solana last week an immediate ceasefire was out of the question.
