Germany signals contribution to UN W Asia force

BERLIN, Aug 16 (Reuters) Germany is ready to make a contribution to the U.N.'s peacekeeping efforts in Lebanon and is considering helping with humanitarian work and securing the Lebanese-Syrian border, the government said today.

The German government did not specifically say it was ready to commit troops -- a sensitive issue in the country 60 years after the Holocaust. But it suggested a willingness to send its navy to patrol the Lebanese coast.

''The coalition government is united in wanting Germany to make a contribution to solving the political problems in the Middle East,'' the government said in a statement.

''Our considerations are focusing on the humanitarian effort, reconstruction work and a contribution to securing the Syrian-Lebanese border, particularly on the coast,'' said the statement.

A United Nations resolution adopted last week called for a truce that ended a one-month war between Israel and Hizbollah and stipulated international help to the Lebanese government to secure its borders.

The statement followed a meeting of senior figures from the ruling coalition, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, to discuss the question of contributing troops to a U.N. force in Lebanon.

The government, made up of Merkel's conservatives (CDU-CSU) and Social Democrats, added that it wanted to help implement the resolution.

The resolution authorised up to 13,000 well-armed troops to augment the 2,000 strong U.N. force now in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.

The German government reiterated it would not decide exactly what contribution to make until the exact nature of the operation was known.

Some 40 nations interested in contributing soldiers to the new U.N. force are meeting on Thursday to hear the rules of engagement.

Merkel herself has been non-committal so far.

The meeting of senior coalition officials included Edmund Stoiber, head of Bavaria's conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), who has expressed scepticism about sending troops to the region for historical and practical reasons.

Stoiber has said the army risks being overstretched with 7,700 soldiers already overseas in Afghanistan, the Balkans and Congo.

Reuters BDP DB2244