Annan recommends extending UNIFIL
Lebanon-Israel, Politics, 7/25/2003

The UN secretary general has recommended yesterday for extending the mission of the UN forces working in Lebanon UNIFIL whose period expires on July 31st for six months.

He said in his report that the situation on the border between Lebanon and Israel during the last six months "was generally quiet." Annan's report considered that this period of calm is the longest since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon three years before following an occupation of 22 years. But he also indicated that the "tension between Israel and Lebanon is still strong and that the relative calm along the blue line is fragile." He stressed the need for a comprehensive peace in the region.

After he had indicated that the Lebanese government showed its ability to strengthen its authority in South Lebanon, he considered that it has "to do more in order to encourage a calm environment in the south." In his report to the UN Security Council Annan said that under the "escalated tension in the region in its broad sense, the sides of the conflict succeeded in general to maintain self control and abide by declared obligations to avoid the escalation of the situation." He added "these are promising attitudes," noting that stability in the region helped the UN in the process of dismantling mines.

In his report, Annan indicated the "great" progress achieved in the last 6 months in dismantling mines in the region. He in particular mentioned an operation financed by the United Arab Emirates UAE which permitted cleaning an area covering more than 4 million cubic meters and dismantling more than 33,000 anti personnel mines and 1500 anti- tank mines and 1700 unexploded ammunition.

Previous Stories:
  Israeli warplanes violated the Lebanese airspace   (7/24/2003)
  Hammoud for pullout of Israeli forces from occupied Syrian, Lebanese lands   (6/13/2003)
  Israel converts an Egyptian fishing boat to a new case of smuggling weapons   (5/23/2003)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search