US, French UN draft wants end to West Asia fighting

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 5 (Reuters) The United States and France today reached an agreement on a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ''full cessation of hostilities'' between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas as a first step toward a political settlement of the conflict.

The 15-member UN Security Council will review the text, negotiated by Washington and Paris, today afternoon. A vote is expected within the next few days, perhaps as soon as Monday.

The draft resolution, obtained by Reuters calls, for a ''full cessation of hostilities.'' It also tells Hizbollah to end attacks immediately and for Israel to stop ''all offensive military operations'' France's original text had demanded an immediate end to fighting so a permanent cease-fire agreement can be negotiated but the wording of the cessation of hostilities favors Israel.

Unclear is the fate of the two Israeli soldiers, whose capture by Hizbollah sparked the conflict on July 12.

France's original text called for their release as well as the settlement of the issue of the Lebanese prisoners detained in Israel. This provision has now been moved to the preamble of the text where it has less weight.

As before the text still has a range of principles that all parties should agree on before an international force can be authorized by the Security Council to monitor violations in southern Lebanon, which France may lead.

But with fighting raging, an end to hostilities still appears problematic.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday that Israel would stop fighting when the international force arrives. But France and other nations who may contribute troops have made clear fighting would have to stop first.

Hizbollah's cabinet Minister Mohammed Fneish said the militia would stop fighting when ''Israeli aggression stops'' and Israeli soldiers leave southern Lebanon.

'FIRST STEP' Still, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair, said in London, ''This is a first step. There is still much to be done. But there is no reason why this resolution should not be adopted now and we have the cessation of hostilities literally within the next couple of days.'' White House spokesman Tony Snow said President George W Bush, who is to meet Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later at his Texas ranch, knew details of the resolution and ''he's happy about it.'' The talks over the last week were conducted by telephone between London and Paris and in New York between US Ambassador John Bolton and his French counterpart, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere.

''We have reached agreement with the French on a draft resolution,'' Bolton told reporters. ''We are prepared to move as quickly as other members of the council want to move.'' He said he assumed that once the text was distributed, council members would send it to their governments and come back with agreement or changes.

''We are prepared to continue to work tomorrow (Sunday) to make progress on the resolution,'' Bolton said.

A second resolution is envisaged a week or two after the first is adopted, setting down conditions for a permanent cease-fire and authorizing an international force stops.

REUTERS SHB KP2348