by Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Strengthening the Lebanese army will be crucial to implementing a U.N. Security Council resolution to maintain peace on the border between Lebanon and Israel, the United States and France said on Thursday.
The US deputy ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, assessed during a meeting between the 15 members of the Security Council that the international community must concentrate its efforts on strengthening the institutions of the Lebanese state.
“The solution to this crisis is not a weaker Lebanon. It is a strong and truly sovereign Lebanon, protected by a legitimate security force, embodied by the Lebanese Armed Forces,” he said.
Resolution 1701, adopted unanimously on August 11, 2006, called for the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, the disarmament of Hezbollah, and the withdrawal from the area south of the Litani River about thirty kilometers from the Lebanese border crossing the Bekaa- plain and flows into the Mediterranean.
The resolution called for the deployment of the Lebanese army, in cooperation with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in southern Lebanon. But Hezbollah has maintained an armed presence in this area, from which it is shelling northern Israel.
France’s UN ambassador, Nicolas de Rivière, said an immediate ceasefire was needed and that the proposed 21-day ceasefire presented by France and the US last month was still relevant.
Hadi Hachem, Lebanon’s interim ambassador to the UN, told the Security Council that “only the commitment to respect international law and international humanitarian law, diplomatic solutions and the implementation of international resolutions will make it possible to put an end to this war and this aggression. “
“STRENGTHENING THE SUPPORT”
Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, told the Security Council that Resolution 1701 must be implemented, as well as Resolution 1559, adopted in 2004, which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces stationed in Lebanon and the disarmament of local militias.
“We are fulfilling our obligations in this regard and the Council must support us in our endeavours,” he said.
Nicolas de Rivière hinted that one of the goals of the international conference that France plans to organize on support for Lebanon on October 24 is to guarantee the country’s sovereignty.
“We want to strengthen support for Lebanese institutions, especially for the Lebanese army,” he declared before speaking to reporters.
“We need the Lebanese Armed Forces to be deployed in the south and do their job,” he said. “What we need to do is to ensure that the Lebanese Armed Forces are properly equipped and trained”
UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix said UNIFIL was ready to support all efforts to reach a diplomatic solution.
“UNIFIL has the mandate to support the implementation of resolution 1701, but we must emphasize that it is up to the parties themselves to implement the provisions of this resolution,” he told the Security Council.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols, writing by David Ljunggren and Cynthia Osterman)
