JERUSALEM — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will convene the Security Council in mid-May to decide on international peacekeeping efforts in southern Lebanon following Israel’s pullout in July.
Annan’s special envoy, Terje Larsen, is currently touring the region in order to make specific suggestions to Annan.
Annan must recommend how the United Nations will fulfill its mandate in southern Lebanon, including helping to restore peace and stability in accordance with the 1978 Security Council Resolution 425.
Larsen and other U.N. officials met April 27 with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem, following lengthy talks earlier in the day with Foreign Minister David Levy.
These were the first of a series of meetings that Larsen is scheduled to have with leaders in the region, including government officials in Beirut, Damascus, Amman and Cairo.
Israeli and U.N. cartographers began work last Friday to determine the exact location of Israel’s northern border after the withdrawal. Legal experts will also be meeting as the two parties attempt to work out final terms for the withdrawal.
U.N. technical experts also toured the northern border, apparently in preparation for delineating the 1923 international boundary to which the Israel Defense Force is scheduled to redeploy by July 7.
According to Western diplomatic sources, the inspections will help the experts more easily mark the border line — originally set by the British and French.
There is still concern, from the United Nations’ point of view, over the future intentions of Israel’s ally in the security zone, the South Lebanese Army. If the SLA remains a fighting force, the U.N. Security Council may find it difficult to confirm Israel’s withdrawal — even if the IDF redeploys to the international border — because the SLA would be viewed as Israel’s proxy.
This week, Israel began tearing down two army outposts in southern Lebanon to prepare for the end of its 22-year occupation.
IDF soldiers took down a communications antenna in Tziporen and removed boxes of ammunition from Olesh, an IDF spokeswoman said Monday. The two outposts will be nearly completely dismantled.
During his meetings with Barak and Levy last week, Larsen reportedly was asked to consider increasing the presence of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in southern Lebanon from 4,000 troops to 7,000, in order to fill the void that will be created by an IDF pullback.
Israel Radio reported that Larsen also asked Israel either to remove all mines it has laid in the security zone or provide maps of its mine fields to safeguard U.N. troops.
Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the Security Council on April 27 that there will be no choice but to beef up U.N. forces in Lebanon after Israel’s pullout.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss has appeared to backtrack on his April 26 comments that indicated his country would welcome the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in areas vacated by the IDF.
Hoss’ original remarks created something of a stir and led to pressure primarily from Syria — the main power broker in Lebanon — for a clarification, which was duly forthcoming.
In his latest statement, Hoss stressed that everything related to UNIFIL and its proposed replacement of the IDF is subject to the consent of the Lebanese government. He also made it clear that Lebanon continues to refuse any security arrangements with Israel as a prior condition to its withdrawal.
Furthermore, he said, Lebanon is under no circumstances prepared to act as a border guard for Israel and would hold Israel fully responsible for “any disruptions that might occur on the border after the withdrawal.”
“Lebanon adheres to all U.N. resolutions, especially 425, and therefore calls on Israel to withdraw fully and unconditionally to the international border line of 1923,” he said.
Hoss added that the people of Lebanon should be excited and proud about the “historic change awaiting Lebanon and they should feel confident about their fate. Lebanon has a date with a return to stability, security, and prosperity.”
Resolution 425, passed in 1978, led to the establishment that year of UNIFIL.
UNIFIL’s mandate was and remains to:
*Observe and confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.
*Assist the Lebanese government in reasserting its sovereignty over the vacated area.
*Help restore peace and security in the region.
But 425 was passed by Security Council at the request of the Lebanese government and is renewed every six months, also at Lebanon’s behest.
In theory, Lebanon could say that the withdrawal of the IDF makes 425 redundant and that it would no longer require the presence of U.N. troops in south Lebanon. The United Nations would then have no alternative but to comply with Lebanese wishes and disband UNIFIL.
If Lebanon wants UNIFIL to remain under the new circumstances, it will have to decide how to help the United Nations fulfill its mandate.