US-French split delays UN action on WAsia war

United Nations, Aug 10: The United States and France were still at odds today over when and how Israel should withdraw from Lebanon, delaying a UN resolution aimed at ending the five-week war between Israel and Lebanon-based Hizbollah guerrillas.

After a late last night meeting among the five Security Council members with veto power, US Ambassador John Bolton told reporters some progress had been made but no agreement had been reached.

Despite pressure on the council to end the escalating conflict, the dispute made it unlikely a draft resolution would be introduced formally today in preparation for a vote 24 hours later, participants in the negotiations said.

The main obstacle is that France, backing Lebanon, wants Israel to begin withdrawing 10,000 troops when Beirut's army, supported by UN peacekeepers, deploys in southern Lebanon, now controlled by Hizbollah's militia.

But the United States supports Israel's position that it keep its troops in Lebanon until the arrival of a larger and better-armed international force, which France may lead.

The United States, France, Britain, Russia and China meet again today to review proposals sent to their respective governments overnight, especially an amendment from France.

This says that as 15,000 Lebanese troops begin to deploy in the south, the Israeli army should start to ''withdraw behind the blue line,'' a UN-demarcated border between Israel and Lebanon, two council diplomats who asked not to be named because of the secrecy of negotiations, told Reuters.

The operation would be aided by a beefed-up UN peacekeeping force before the international troops arrive.

Lebanon, backed by the Arab League, wants all foreign troops to be part of a UN force, but France is expected to lead a separate UN-mandated mission, the envoys said.

The United States and France on Saturday agreed on a resolution calling for a ''cessation of hostilities'' between Israel and Hizbollah and setting out terms for a permanent cease-fire. But Beirut objected to several provisions, particularly the lack of a timetable for Israel's 10,000 troops to withdraw from Lebanon, prompting amendments to the text.

Both Bolton and his French counterpart, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said the deployment of Lebanese troops was significant and would be covered in a new draft resolution.

''We are getting closer on the way to resolving some of this but I don't want to underestimate the central and operational difficulties,'' Bolton told reporters late yesterday.

''There are areas where we are still not in agreement. There is no doubt about that. I don't want to appear to minimize that,'' Bolton said.

Said de la Sabliere: ''There are still some differences that we must quickly overcome.'' Other members of the Security Council appeared increasingly impatient at the failure of the 15-member body to take a first step to stop the fighting, which has killed over 1,000 Lebanese and 116 Israelis in five weeks of war, sparked when Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Russia's UN Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, said he was trying to get ambassadors to focus on the immediate need to stop the fighting and put in place a political process.

''The basic elements of what needs to be done are clear. But there are quite a few very complicated ideas about how these basic principles, the basic elements, are to be implemented,'' Churkin told reporters.

Yesterday, the Israeli cabinet approved plans for an expanded ground offensive, which had been put on hold to allow more time for US-led diplomatic efforts to halt the war.

REUTERS

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