Lebanon needs big force, clear orders, France says

PARIS, Aug 1 (Reuters) France, which could lead a new international peace-keeping force for Lebanon, said that such a force must be big, sufficiently well armed and have precise guidelines when it comes to opening fire.

The force must be bigger than the current United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and be more than the 10,000 suggested by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said in an interview published today.

Military officials in France, which has emerged as a possible leader, have said the new Lebanon force should be 15,000-20,000 strong. ''There is no question of it being a UNIFIL Mark Two,'' Alliot-Marie told the Le Monde daily.

''It must be a very large international force with very precise missions. It must be well-armed, have substantial firepower and armour. It must be credible and capable of making itself respected by everyone,'' she added.

Alliot-Marie repeated the French view that the Lebanon force could only deploy once a ceasefire had been established and a political accord reached between Syrian- and Iran-backed Hizbollah guerrillas fighting Israeli forces.

But a political accord seems far off and the United Nations yesterday postponed indefinitely a meeting called to begin planning for a Lebanon peacekeeping force.

Israel does not want to stop its three-week-old offensive before the force starts arriving -- something France will notcontemplate.

Hizbollah has said it would not accept any solution it found humiliating but did not elaborate.

RIGHT TO SHOOT Alliot-Marie said the Lebanon force must not repeat the mistakes of previous UN-backed missions.

She said it must have the right to open fire when necessary.

''It's because they've been told that they don't have the right to open fire that all UN forces have had problems,'' she said.

''Remember ... what happened in Ivory Coast with ONUCI (United Nations Mission in Ivory Coast) or the UNIFIL in Lebanon: each time you have forces asked to enforce things that aren't very clear, without giving them a deterrent,'' she said.

Only countries with real military know-how should take part in the force, which should avoid becoming a kaleidoscope of nations that would lose its effectiveness, she said.

Military experts say France, which already has some 13,000 service personnel deployed abroad, could send around 5,000 troops to Lebanon though the Le Figaro daily said military planners felt the country was reaching its limit.

''It won't be easy. We've reached our deployment limit now, not so much in terms of numbers of personnel but in terms of command capacity,'' the paper quoted one officer as saying.

REUTERS BDP KN1815