Pressure mounts on EU to make firm Lebanon commitments

A hastily-convened meeting of top level EU ambassadors produced little by way of progress on European contributions to a Lebanon force on Wednesday (23 August).

The two main issues of the meeting – establishing what the rules of engagement should be and how many soldiers each participating country would send – have largely remained unanswered.

It will now be up to EU foreign ministers meeting for an emergency session on Friday in the presence of UN secretary general Kofi Annan to iron out the details and elicit firm promises.

Diplomats indicated that while there were repeated offers for logistical and maritime support - these went "little beyond what has already been said in public" although there was "general agreement" among member states that they ought to make a strong contribution.

There was also no real discussion about specific numbers of troops that would be sent and who would lead it although Italy has previously indicated it would be prepared to do so.

Now the attention will turn to Friday where a series of meetings are scheduled - a meeting of political and security officials first thing in the morning, followed by a meeting of EU ambassadors, followed by EU foreign ministers at 3pm.

It is hoped that the presence of Mr Annan will make member states come to an agreement.

So far, governments, particularly France which had several fatalities in the UN peacekeeping mission during the Bosnian war, are very wary of the woolly terms of engagement.

One diplomat noted that he "could not imagine" that Mr Annan would come to Brussels only to hear what has "already been said" in New York.

The lack of outright agreement on Wednesday adds further to the picture that EU member states are in simple disarray over their response to Lebanon – with France having backed down from a leadership role and Italy saying it will commit up to 3,000 troops but only on condition that Israeli soldiers stop shooting.

The pressure has been steadily mounting on Europe since Muslim states like Malaysia are no longer likely to send soldiers. Israel had dismissed its offer to contribute as well as Bangladesh's and Indonesia's as the three do not recognise the Jewish state.

This has resulted in even more pressure to get comittment from the Europeans to make up the total of 15,000 peacekeeping troops foreseen under the recent UN resolution governing the fragile ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israeli soldiers.

Under current, not very firm promises by EU member states, some 6,000 to 9000 troops would be sent – far short of the goal. Militarily significant states such as the UK, however, are not sending ground soldiers while Germany has also ruled out ground troops for historical reasons.

Meeting her counterpart in Paris on Wednesday, Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni urged EU member states to overcome their hesitation and put troops into Lebanon as as soon as possible to control an "explosive" situation.