June 19, 2000
Lebanon told visiting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Monday that U.N. peacekeepers could not deploy toward the Israeli-Lebanese border until it agreed the Israeli occupation was over.
The statement was issued after a meeting between Annan and President Emile Lahoud, described by Lebanese officials as frosty because the U.N. Security Council had confirmed the Israeli withdrawal despite Beirut's assertion that Israel still held Lebanese land.
``Lebanon considers the continuing existence of Israeli violations means that the Israeli withdrawal is incomplete,'' Lahoud said. ``Lebanon is awaiting results of the work of the joint U.N.-Lebanese ground team to announce its final position in this regard. ``Lebanon confirms that the removal of these violations is a step that must precede any redeployment for the UNIFIL (peacekeepers) in the liberated areas,'' he said.
Just before Lahoud's statement appeared, Annan told a news conference U.N. forces were investigating the alleged incursions but added that it was up to the United Nations -- not Lebanon -- to decide what constituted a violation.
The U.N. chief wants to deploy U.N. troops on the Israeli-Lebanese border and would like the Beirut government to reassert its authority in the area. Lebanon has announced plans to deploy 1,000 security personnel, half of them soldiers, once it is clear that Israel has withdrawn. Annan said Sunday he hoped to double the 4,500-member U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The force is supposed to bolster Lebanese government control in the south, now dominated by the Hizbollah guerrillas who fought the Israeli troops until they left in May.
Annan, who arrived in Beirut minutes after the government repeated that Israelis remained on Lebanese land, told reporters the United Nations would accept no Israeli violations of the withdrawal line marked out by U.N. experts. ``If the Lebanese government believes there have been violations of the withdrawal line they should immediately report the matter to the United Nations, as they have done in this case,'' Annan said.
``And UNIFIL is in the process of checking and if we do confirm that there are violations, obviously we will deal with them,'' he said. ``We will report to the Security Council, make it public and demand that Israel take action to withdraw the forces or the individuals who have crossed the line. From the moment that line was established any crossing of that line was a violation.''
Lebanon, which originally objected to the line drawn by the United Nations to determine the withdrawal, maintained Israelis also remained on the Lebanese side of the U.N. line.
Annan had been guaranteed a cool reception since the U.N. Security Council Sunday certified Israel had ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon despite complaints by Beirut that some areas remained under Israeli control. Instead of Prime Minister Selim al-Hoss greeting Annan on arrival, he was met by the low-level minister for administrative reform.
As Annan started his 24-hour visit, he was met at the airport by mothers of Lebanese held in Israeli jails -- another area of contention between the two countries.
Lebanese officials said Lahoud passed a letter from a daughter of one prisoner to Annan at the start of their meeting to underline the issue. Annan said at his subsequent news conference he would take up the issue with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Annan goes to Amman Tuesday before visiting Israel and later in the week Syria, a vital stop as Damascus sets foreign policy for its small neighbor Lebanon.
Diplomats said Annan had threatened to drop the Beirut visit unless the Security Council confirmed the Israeli withdrawal. Russia, which had supported the Lebanese position, ended its objections and the council gave its approval, though in a gesture to Lebanon it noted Israel may have violated the border since Annan's report.
