UN sets meeting to begin planning Lebanon force

UNITED NATIONS, July 28 (Reuters) Countries interested in participating in an international force for Lebanon are to gather at U N headquarters on Monday to begin planning, U N and diplomatic sources said today.

U N Secretary-General Kofi Annan called the meeting and will act as chairman, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to preempt the U N leader's announcement.

The goal is to begin discussions on the type of force to deploy and its rules of engagement. Annan asked the U N peacekeeping department earlier this week to organize the meeting in anticipation of Security Council approval of such a force, the sources said.

Many potential troop contributing countries have been invited but the sources declined to identify them.

The No. 3 State Department official, Nicholas Burns, would represent the United States, the sources said. However, Washington has ruled out contributing troops to the force.

Some diplomats believe the session may be premature.

''They want to move forward with a force before there is agreement on a political settlement of the conflict. I don't know if that is going to work,'' said one diplomat whose government was considering offering troops.

Major powers have said a force could not be deployed while fighting continued and without the consent of Israel, Lebanon and the Hizbollah organization.

An international conference in Rome on Wednesday failed to reach any agreement on how and when they end the fighting but did agree on the need for an international military force with a U N Security Council mandate to secure the Israeli-Lebanese border once the conflict ended.

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