Annan says to mediate on captured Israeli soldiers

RIYADH, Sep 4 (Reuters) United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today said Lebanon and Israel have accepted his offer to mediate the release of two Israeli soldiers captured by Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah in July.

''The two sides have accepted the effort of the secretary-general to help solve this problem,'' Annan told a news conference in Saudi Arabia. ''I will appoint a person to work secretly with the two sides ... I will not announce his name today or tomorrow,'' he said through an Arabic interpreter.

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