BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan will discuss the deployment and role of a planned 15,000-strong peacekeeping force for southern Lebanon when he visits Beirut on Monday for the first time since the Israel-Hizbollah war.
Other issues are likely to include the lifting of an Israeli air and sea blockade of Lebanon, policing of the Lebanese-Syrian border to stop arms smuggling and a possible prisoner swap between Israel and the Lebanese Hizbollah guerrilla group.
Annan, due to meet Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the speaker of the Lebanese parliament Nabih Berri, was seeking full implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701, a U.N. spokesman said at the weekend.
The resolution ended a 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah on August 14 but also made a series of demands on Israel, Lebanon and the international community which have yet to be met.
It urged the reopening of Lebanon's airports and harbors, blockaded by Israel since the start of the war, and the securing of Lebanon's land borders to prevent arms smuggling.
The resolution also called for the international community to provide enough troops to allow the United Nations to boost the size of its current UNIFIL force in Lebanon from 2,000 to 15,000.
Annan discussed the European Union contribution to the expanded force with EU leaders in Brussels on Friday. He said France, which has promised 2,000 troops, would lead it until February when Italy, which has pledged 3,000, would take over.
"We should deploy, I hope, within the next few days, not the next few weeks," Annan said after the talks. |