UN: Plans to establish a peacekeeping force of up to 15,000 soldiers in Lebanon will be discussed at a potentially critical meeting between UN officials and representatives of member states, including Ireland, at UN headquarters in New York today.
Ireland is one of 45 potential troop-contributing states invited to attend the meeting, which takes place at 3.30pm New York time (8.30pm in Ireland) and is being described by UN sources as "crucial". Observers say it is unprecedented in UN history for member states to be under so much pressure to assemble a peacekeeping force in such a short time.
The meeting will be chaired by deputy secretary general Mark Malloch Brown and officials from the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) will seek to clarify the details of the proposed mission.
At the time of writing, no member state has given a definite commitment to take part in the expanded Unifil (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) mission. The lack of precision about the terms of the mission, including its "concept of operations" (plan of action), chain of command and other details, has generated considerable hesitancy among member states.
"The point of the meeting is to try to explain what it is we're looking for," UN sources told The Irish Times. As part of this the rules of engagement - "what you do vis a vis the use of force" - would be explained.
In a situation where the deployment of a UN force is a matter of considerable urgency, the meeting will be used to assess the level of interest among member states in sending troops. With time running short, UN officials are hoping that firm commitments will soon be forthcoming.
This will be the second meeting this week attended by the Irish and other representatives; a previous gathering on Monday was more technical in nature. UN sources said tonight's meeting was a more formal one, "where we hope we will see some commitments".
The normal time frame for setting up UN operations has been cut short very drastically because of the urgency of putting a peacekeeping mission in place, alongside Lebanese Army troops, so that the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon will go ahead.
"We are doing everything we can to streamline our procedures and cut through red tape," UN sources said. All the various facets of a complex operation were being put together in "basically a week".
"We need the member states to respond equally quickly," UN sources said. "We are looking to member states to make commitments and to be ready to send them [ troops] immediately." This required an "immediate deployment" of between 3,000 and 3,500 troops in 10 to 15 days.
"The imperative is that the IDF [ Israeli Defence Forces] are still in Lebanon. So long as they do not withdraw, you have a potential for friction because there are armed elements on the other side eyeball to eyeball with them. They are not willing to do that unless they can hand over to a credible force."
Ireland was also represented at a meeting of the European Union's Political and Security Committee in Brussels yesterday where the Middle East crisis was on the agenda. However, EU states have decided to await developments at the UN today before announcing what contributions they will make to the peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
There are currently 2,000 Unifil troops in southern Lebanon, including a small Irish contingent. Government sources said that, given the "fragility" of the situation, it would be crucial to ensure the safety of Irish troops and that any troops who were deployed would have both the authority and equipment "to protect themselves and discharge their mandate".