Global Policy Forum

By Jack Redden

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud gave a hostile reception to UN plans for monitoring the end of Israel's occupation of south Lebanon, leaving the future of the peacekeeping role uncertain.

As the Lebanese cabinet met, the UN Security Council was endorsing a plan for verifying Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon that calls for all parties to show restraint and cooperate with UNIFIL. But Information Minister Anwar Khalil said after the cabinet meeting that Lahoud had complained that Secretary- General Kofi Annan's plan does not meet Lebanese demands for territory or a release of prisoners.

Lahoud told ministers "of his regret and condemnation of the UN's decision on including Sheba Farms within Resolution 425," Khalil said. He quoted Lahoud as saying another gap in the UN plan is the absence of anything to make Israel release all Lebanese prisoners - not just those already freed by a popular storming of El Khiam prison.

The statement, in advance of a mission to Beirut by UN Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen today, added to uncertainty about how Lebanon will respond to UN efforts to provide peace in south Lebanon.

Early in the day Prime Minister Selim Hoss had indicated the UN's rejection of Lebanon's demand that the Israeli withdrawal include the Sheba - a strip of land along the Golan Heights that Israel took from Syria in 1967 - would not be a major impediment to cooperation.

A statement at a Security Council meeting welcomed Annan's intention to ensure a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon has taken place. One reason for the speedy adoption of the statement was to strengthen the hand of Larsen, who has had tough meetings on his previous two visits.

Syria, which runs Lebanese foreign policy, has been suspicious of Larsen for his role in reaching the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Annan has recommended increasing the UN peacekeeping force from 4,513 to 5,600 to verify the Israeli pullout, and then to 7,935 to help restore the authority of the Lebanese government. Under terms from Annan, Israel must withdraw all personnel from Lebanon, stop violating its airspace and territorial waters, and ensure the SLA ceases to exist. Annan's report said after a withdrawal, the Lebanese army "should ensure that all national territory falls under the effective authority of the government" - which officers with the peacekeeping force believe will not happen.