Enlarge imageBy Crispian Balmer
PARIS (Reuters) - France is considering providing only a symbolic force for the United Nations contingent in Lebanon, and not the thousands of troops UN officials had hoped, Le Monde newspaper said on Thursday.
If true, such a move could seriously delay the UN mission, seen as vital to securing peace between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas, or even scupper the whole operation.
Quoting U.N. and diplomatic sources, Le Monde said France might send just a dozen officers and around 200 personnel from an engineering division for the beefed-up UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
President Jacques Chirac’s office said the military options "were still under review".
A French diplomatic source said France had always highlighted the dangers of such a mission and said the conditions for the operation had to be clarified.
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The source added there was no turnaround in the French position and no misunderstanding with the United Nations.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said on Wednesday that France was willing to lead the UN force until at least February, so long as it was given a clear mandate.
However, she declined to say how many troops France would commit to UNIFIL, which is eventually expected to consist of 15,000 soldiers, up from 2,000 at present.
The United Nations hopes France will lead advance contingents of up to 3,500 troops to south Lebanon which the world body wants to field within two weeks.
PEACEKEEPING NIGHTMARES
France was at the forefront of diplomatic efforts in the United Nations to bring about the ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah which came into effect earlier this week.
But the French military has strong reservations about the U.N. mission following disastrous peacekeeping missions over the past three decades -- notably in Lebanon and Bosnia.
Other potential troop-contributing nations are due to meet U.N. peacekeeping officials on Thursday to discuss the operation ground rules. Many have not firmly committed any soldiers to UNIFIL before they see what France will do.
Le Monde said France was ready to offer the United Nations the use of a rapid reaction force, but would not place the troops under UN control.
The influential daily quoted UN sources as saying the French position "threatened the entire process" because it could lead other countries to believe that Paris did not believe in the validity of the United Nations mission.
A military source told the paper the French hesitation was caused by the "traumatism of Bosnia" and "fears of reprisals from Syria or Iran".
Some 84 French troops died during a UN peacekeeping mission to Bosnia in the early 1990s, and other soldiers were taken hostage by Bosnian Serbs.
During an earlier mission to Beirut in 1983, bomb attacks blamed on Muslim guerrillas killed 58 French paratroopers.
French officials said earlier this week that Paris was particularly anxious to get reassurances about who will disarm Hizbollah, and when.
The guerrilla movement is backed by Syria and Iran, two countries locked in an increasingly bitter diplomatic battle with France. Paris is worried French troops in Lebanon could unwittingly find themselves caught up in the row.
(Additional reporting by Kerstin Gehmlich and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris)
