EU ready to help Lebanon with security

LEVI, Finland, Oct 3 (Reuters) The European Union is ready to help Lebanon with a range of security issues from border control to policing and prison security following a request from the government in Beirut, officials said today.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora requested assistance from EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana earlier this week and the bloc's defence ministers approved preparations for such a mission at talks in northern Finland, EU officials said.

''There was a consensus,'' said one official. ''A contact mission will go to Lebanon as soon as possible to define what they need. It is very open, in principle it could be anything.'' The rule of law mission would run alongside the newly expanded UN peacekeeping force monitoring the truce between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon which ended a 34-day war.

EU nations agreed in August to provide the core of the UN force, called UNIFIL, which will have up to 15,000 troops at full strength.

Reuters LL DS1700