UN force needs year to reach full strength - general

PARIS, Aug 15 (Reuters) A new United Nations force planned for Lebanon will take a year to reach full strength, said Maj Gen Alain Pellegrini, the Frenchman who leads the current UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

In an interview published today, Pellegrini warned that the UN-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas, which ended a month of fighting, was not yet stable and said he was worried about future prospects.

''This situation is therefore very fragile and is going to remain that way for quite some time. We aren't out of trouble yet,'' he told Le Monde daily.

Pellegrini commands the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, which has some 2,000 troops. He said it would take a long time for UNIFIL to grow into the 15,000-strong force authorised by the U.N.

Security Council on Friday.

''It's going to take a year to bring the number of men to 15,000,'' Pellegrini said. ''In the short term, our priority is to give a hand to the Lebanese army.'' The UN wants the expanded UNIFIL force to support the Lebanese army and take over Israeli positions in a buffer zone in the far south of Lebanon.

In New York, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric has said Pellegrini was expected to remain in charge of the bigger force.

Pellegrini indicated that his relations with Israel were difficult after six members of his UNIFIL team were killed by Israeli fire in the recent fighting.

He told Le Monde that on the day his men came under attack, he had telephoned Israel ''five or six times'' to warn that their bombs were falling around UN positions. Shortly afterwards the UN team took a direct hit.

''It therefore seems clear that it was a deliberate act,'' he said. ''Sometimes when I warned them by phone a secretary would answer and say there was no one free to talk to me. What can you do when you talk to people who don't want to answer?'' Israel has denied allegations it targeted the UN.

REUTERS DKA VC2052