Kofi Annan Fleshes Out Plans For Lebanon Force
Ankit Gupta - All Headline News Staff Writer Brussels, Belgium (AHN) - UN Chief Kofi Annan fleshed out plans for a UN force for violence-wrecked Lebanon, saying it could help Beirut get a grip on Hezbollah militants behind the upsurge of clashes in the Middle East, reported Press Trust of India sources. Annan elaborated on his proposals after talks in Brussels with European Union Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana, who was preparing to head back to the region. If approved by the United Nation's Security Council, the proposed new UN stabilization force would be much bigger than the current 2,000-strong UN force in the country, the UN Secretary General said. "Details will have to be worked out including the concept and the size. I would expect a force which, is considerably larger than the 2,000 force that is there," he said. "I would expect a force that would have a modified and a different concept of operations," he said in Brussels, where he held talks on the Middle East in the sidelines of a conference on Darfur. The proposal for an international stabilization force was made by leaders of the G8 nations - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia and the United States - at a weekend summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Annan said he hoped the UN Security Council would give the new force a mandate "to help stabilize the situation while the government of Lebanon tries to organize itself and ... |
