French minister to travel to UN for Lebanon talks

PARIS, Aug 11 (Reuters) French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy will travel to the United Nations in New York today as part of efforts to reach agreement on a Security Council resolution on Lebanon.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said Douste-Blazy would ''take part in discussions and quickly reach an accord on the draft resolution on the West Asia crisis''.

The statement did not say whether the United States and France were close to clinching a draft U N resolution to end the month-old war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas.

U S and French envoys to the United Nations worked on the text late into the evening yesterday after Beirut rejected deployment of extra U N troops under Chapter 7 of the U N Charter, authorising the use of force, not just self-defence.

Douste-Blazy told reporters yesterday that France might still go ahead with its own resolution if there were no agreement, a possibility raised on Wednesday by President Jacques Chirac.

Sticking points over a deal are the mechanics of a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon and their replacement by Lebanese and international forces.

France wants a halt to fighting followed by a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon and the deployment in their place of Lebanese troops backed by a beefed-up U N contingent.

REUTERS DKB HT1540