UN works on Lebanon force after Paris disappoints

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 17 (Reuters) UN officials scrambled to put together a beefed-up peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon today after France sent planning into a tailspin by offering only a token number of troops.

Dozens of nations, weighing how they might contribute to the new force, showed up at a planning meeting at UN headquarters as Paris announced it would offer just 200 soldiers.

France had been expected to lead the force with several thousand of its own troops.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said many countries had expressed interest in contributing to the force, ''but we have no firm commitments as of yet.'' ''We are doing our best to move ahead,'' he said.

The UN Security Council adopted a resolution last Friday authorizing the deployment of as many as 15,000 troops to enforce a cease-fire in the one-month war between Israel and Lebanon's Hizbollah.

The UN force was to help 15,000 Lebanese troops that have begun moving into the south to enable Israeli forces to withdraw while ensuring Hizbollah fighters do not rearm.

The United Nations had counted on France to lead an advance contingent of up to 3,500 fresh troops that it hoped could be in place within two weeks. Paris already has some 200 troops in the existing, 2,000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and leads the operation.

French President Jacques Chirac assured UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan by phone that his government might yet send in more soldiers depending on the precise mission and rules of engagement, Chirac's office said.

In the meantime, he said the 1,700 troops serving in its air and naval forces in the region would remain in place for the time being, although not be put under UN command.

France's reticence surprised many UN officials and diplomats, since Paris was a key author of the resolution which spelled out the mandate, and had insisted that all troops be under UN command as Lebanon demanded.

France's hesitancy was bound to have an impact today's meeting of potential troop contributors.

Many of the 49 ambassadors invited had been expected to begin making specific commitments, based on the assumption that a command structure and rules of engagement were in place.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had spoken to French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy over France's role and the general situation in Lebanon.

Casey said he hoped for ''greater clarity'' on contributions from France and others after the New York meeting.

In New York, Dujarric, acknowledging the French move would have an impact on potential contributors, said a second meeting might be called for early next week to firm up commitments.

Asked whether the concept of a UN force held together by a large unit of well equipped and highly trained troops from a single nation would now have to be revisited, Dujarric said the world body would ''adapt to whatever countries provide us and give us firm offers on.'' REUTERS PDS PM0120