|
Australian peacekeepers may be headed for Lebanon
 AUSTRALIA would participate in an international peacekeeping mission to Lebanon only if it guaranteed to help secure a long-term settlement, Prime Minister John Howard said today. As Australian evacuation efforts in Lebanon wind down, Mr Howard has indicated Australia would consider any request to join a United Nations force but there would have to be definite outcomes from the mission. "We would consider it," he told ABC Radio. "I'd want to know what the conditions are. I'd want to know what the objective is. I'd want to know that it's going to make a contribution to a long-term settlement. The problem in the Middle East is there is never an attempt to bring about a long-term settlement. The fundamental cause of the current outbreak is the refusal of the entire Arab world to accept Israel's right to exist." Meanwhile, the Government is warning Australians wanting to leave Lebanon to get on board chartered ships today because there may be no further vessels organised. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) says no further ships will leave the war-torn country after today. EU foreign and security affairs chief Javier Solana has said that sending an international peacekeeping force to Lebanon would be a difficult but crucial part of an overall solution to end the country's political instability. Mr Solana said it was not easy to put together an international peacekeeping force but that "several European Union nations" would contribute troops and hardware. UN chief Kofi Annan said he would press for a truce and establishment of a buffer force at a crisis meeting on Lebanon in Rome on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is to meet Rice today, has said would accept a peacekeeping force in Lebanon made up of troops from EU nations. Posted by: Oztralian 2006-07-25 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=160754 |