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France for promoting truce in Lebanon

Amit Baruah

PARIS: French Defence Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau on Monday said the decision to bolster the country's troop strength in the UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) under a renewed Security Council mandate was to promote ceasefire and end hostilities. "We can't have a new failure. This mission is very difficult."

"We want to help the Lebanon Army develop in the south [of Lebanon]," he maintained.

The mandate, under Chapter VI of the U.N. Charter, did not give the UNIFIL the power to disarm groups in southern Lebanon.

Stating that the French troops were not going to fight a war in Lebanon, Mr. Bureau said the idea was to ensure the sovereignty of Lebanon. Asked about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, he said: "We don't try to establish which of the two sides is responsible."

Interestingly, French troops would be armed with both tanks and 155-mm howitzers, General Philippe-Alexandre Ellenbogen, deputy spokesman of the Ministry, said. The objective of the refurbished UNIFIL, for which France will send 1,600 additional soldiers this week, is to provide the Hizbollah with an "impulse" to opt for dialogue, than armed actions.

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