US, France still differ on UN WAsia resolution

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 9: The United States and France were at odds today over an Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon, further delaying a UN resolution that could lead to a cease-fire in the four-week war between Israel and Hizbollah.

Facing Arab criticism that the current US-French draft resolution favored Israel, the two co-sponsors agreed to change their UN Security Council draft after Lebanon yesterday announced it would deploy 15,000 soldiers in the south.

Both the United States and France want a quick vote on the resolution imposing a cease-fire. However, it has been difficult to craft a text all sides can accept and a draft may not be formally introduced until tomorrow, with a vote probably a day later.

Paris and Washington disagree on when an international peace force, expected to be led by France, should enter south Lebanon and when Israel should withdraw, officials from both countries said.

French President Jacques Chirac threatened to introduce his own resolution no compromise was reached.

''If we reach an agreement, then so much the better,'' Chirac told a news conference in the southern town of Toulon where he was vacationing.

''If we don't, it is obvious that we will have a debate at the Security Council and each of us will clearly set out our positions, including France with its own resolution,'' he said after summoning ministers to Toulon.

However, Chirac said, ''I can't imagine that there would be no solution ... which would be the most immoral result, that we accept the current situation and that we abandon an immediate cease-fire.''

MAY STILL AGREE

US Ambassador John Bolton, after talks with Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, said discussions with France were continuing. He said they reached initial agreement on the draft last Saturday contrary to expectations and ''we may yet do it again.'' The United States and Israel back a multinational force able to take offensive action where necessary rather than merely act as observers, as the current UN contingent has done for the past 28 years.

France is considering beefing up the current UN peacekeeping force and giving it a stronger mandate. It would like to see Israel begin withdrawing when Lebanese troops move in. Washington insists this cannot happen before foreign soldiers arrive.

Bolton said he explained to Moussa ''that we don't want a situation where a withdrawal of Israeli forces leads to a security vacuum that Hizbollah can re-infiltrate.'' He said the question remained how to have an effective security presence when Israeli forces leave the area.

A State Department official, who asked not to be named, said an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon had to coincide with the arrival of Lebanese troops and an international force.

''We are still exactly where we have been before and that is how do you do this? What is the timing and sequencing of this? How quickly can you deploy the Lebanese army and an international force to support it, and how do you then organize that deployment?'' said the official.

''Israel's withdrawal can only take place at the point when the Lebanese and an international force are there. The two cannot be delinked,'' he said.

Some 1,000 Lebanese and more than 100 Israelis have been killed in four weeks of fighting, sparked when Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Meanwhile, the Israeli cabinet decided today to expand its ground offensive, possibly as far as 20 kms from the border. Israeli media said the army thought it would take 30 days to accomplish its mission.

REUTERS

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