Rice says UN resolution won't end all fighting

CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug 6 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice cautioned today that a UN resolution will not stop all the fighting in southern Lebanon but is a first step toward a lasting cessation of violence.

Rice, in Crawford to consult with President George W Bush about the West Asia crisis, told reporters it is important to get a vote on the UN resolution in the next day or two.

UN Security Council envoys are attempting to put the finishing touches on a draft resolution from France and the United States calling for a halt to fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas and setting terms for a settlement to the conflict.

If that resolution can be quickly voted on, Rice told reporters, ''I would hope that you would see very early on an end to large-scale violence.'' But that does not necessarily mean an end to all fighting in the short run because ''these things take a while to wind down,'' said Rice.

She said could not rule out ''skirmishes for some time to come.'' Rice said it is important to get a vote ''in the next day or two'' on the resolution and urged other UN states to support it, calling it a first step toward stopping the conflict but not the only step.

''We're trying to deal with a problem that has been festering and brewing in Lebanon now for years and years and years. So it's not going to be solved by one resolution in the Security Council,'' Rice said.

She said she would go to New York when and if it is necessary to help with the negotiations.

Lebanon is unhappy with the draft resolution, which the UN Security Council is expected to vote tomorrow or Tuesday, partly because it lacks a call for the withdrawal from Lebanon of Israeli forces. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Sunday that Lebanon rejected the resolution as biased.

Rice's caution reflected the reality on the ground in southern Lebanon, where Hizbollah guerrillas have vowed to continue attacks against Israel and Israel has vowed to respond.

The Bush administration had resisted international appeals for an immediate cease-fire in the three-week-old conflict, insisting the root causes must be addressed, namely Hizbollah's heavy presence in southern Lebanon.

''This is a first step. It's a good basis for ending large scale violence. It's a good basis for creating conditions in which there can't be a return to the status quo ante and its a good basis for beginning to flow the authority of the Lebanese government into the south so that this can't happen again,'' Rice said.

The UN resolution is to set the stage for a second resolution in the next couple of weeks establishing the framework for an international force to go into Lebanon in support of the Lebanese army.

Israel has refused to withdraw its 10,000 troops until an international force enters south Lebanon and France and others do not want to send in soldiers while fighting rages.

In violence sparked July 12 by the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah, more than 700 Lebanese and nearly 90 Israelis have been killed and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have been forced from their homes.

REUTERS SRS RN1956