UN seeks to accelerate Lebanon deployment: Annan

Jerusalem, Aug 16: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told Israeli television yesterday that the world body would seek to deploy more peacekeepers in Lebanon 'as quickly as possible'.

Annan told Israel's Channel 2 he thought the process of meeting the terms of a Security Council resolution for a ceasefire, passed on Friday, could take weeks or months.

''We are trying to move them as quickly as possible and once we have deployed, it may probably take weeks or months, but we are trying to move them as quickly as we can,'' Annan said.

In line with the resolution that ended a month of fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, the Lebanese army will begin moving 15,000 troops to south Lebanon on Thursday, a senior political source in Lebanon said on Tuesday.

Israel's army chief, Gen. Dan Halutz, said Israeli forces could complete their withdrawal in seven to 10 days.

The UN ceasefire resolution also calls for the expansion of a UN peacekeeping force, in Lebanon since 1978, though plans for the larger force are still in their early stages.

Annan's assessment seemed more optimistic than that of the commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, who told France's Le Monde newspaper it would take a year for an expanded force to reach full strength.

REUTERS

Related Stories