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Lebanon's agony — where's the UN?


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By John Metzler
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Friday, July 212, 2006

BOSTON — Beyond the fusillades of rhetorical recriminations, anguished accusations and calls for foreign forces in the current conflict in Lebanon, there's something so very obvious, it's not even noticed. Where's the UN? I don't mean the frantic diplomatic deliberations in the Security Council nor the UN political mission sent to Beirut to monitor developments. That's very important but not my point. I refer to something far more obvious — the presence of 2,000 UN peacekeeping forces already stationed along the very disputed frontier between southern Lebanon and Israel.

Before readers see this as a snide semantic sideswipe at the let me state full disclosure. One of my first stories as a UN correspondent way back in 1978 covered the establishment of the transitional UNIFIL — United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. Well Interim lasted a bit longer and as of June 2006, the "interim" mandate was renewed yet again. Two thousand UN blue helmets, boots on the ground, are currently stationed on the dangerous frontier with both Israel and Syria. In the past they monitored the Israelis and now they should be monitoring Hizbullah.

UNIFIL historically was composed of Irish, Fijians and Scandinavian units; it's currently made up of units from Ghana, India, France, Ireland and a few others. The force has suffered 250 peacekeepers killed over the past quarter century making it one of the most dangerous UN assignments anywhere.

Currently a battalion from Ghana (coincidently Secretary General Kofi Annan's home country) is stationed on the flashpoint frontier with Israel while an Indian battalion is on the Syrian border. A French General commands the whole operation from Naqoura in southern Lebanon. UNIFIL's annual budget comes to about $99 million so it's hardly a low budget operation.

But back to the situation. In 2004 strong American and French political pressures urged the UN Security Council to enact a landmark resolution (1559) protecting, it was assumed, the sovereignty of Lebanon, demanding a Syrian withdrawal, and calling for the disarming of the various and sundry armed militias in the south of the country.

Though the thirty year long Syrian occupation formally ended, the surrogates of Syria such as the Shiite Hizbullah militants remained, essentially becoming the autonomous state within a state in southern Lebanon. And despite Lebanon's economic revitalization and now political democratization, the tragic fact remains that the Syrians and Islamic Iran can turn up the heat at any time. This is what's happening now as tiny Lebanon is caught in the cross hairs of Hizbullah attacks on Israel and Israeli counter-strikes which sadly have caused collateral damage and not just to the terrorists.

It seems so very long ago that Lebanon's Christians and Muslims coexisted politically and that Beirut was envied as the Paris of the Middle East. Tourism over the past few has rebounded as a renewed Lebanon was poised to greet 1.6 million visitors this year — until now. Economic growth slated for 5 percent has also hit the doldrums.

Now the challenge of evacuating foreign citizens out has begun — the French (the former colonial power) did not miss a political beat and sent the Prime Minister Dominique de Villepan into beleaguered Beirut to discuss a ceasefire. The Italians and British acted with alacrity and got ships and helicopters into the region. Britain's task was made simpler by the crucial presence of British bases in nearby Cyprus, the evacuation point and port of refuge for most foreigners which include 25,000 Americans , 40,000 Canadians, and 20,000 French.

Washington mindful of the American military intervention in Lebanon in summer 1958 and shadowed by the tragedy during the Lebanese civil war and the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut by Hizbullah, has been particularly cautious and has begun evacuations of some of the Americans using cruise ships guarded by naval vessels. Most will be taken to the safety of Cyprus.

Now the UN Secretary General Annan calls for a new "stabilization force" in Lebanon. But let's recall UNIFIL was supposed to confirm the Israeli withdrawal (in 2000) and help the Lebanese government restore peace and security in the country's troubled south. Speaking of UNIFIL's current role a UN spokesman conceded they were "doing what they can" but as to intercepting Hizbullah militants, the blue helmets were "maintaining their positions," as well as keeping a "constant dialogue with armed elements." This sadly needs no translation. Creating yet another feckless UN peacekeeping mandate will not solve the core issue either.

Sadly the Lebanese government cannot exercise effective sovereignty in the south of its country. Syrian and Iranian armed militias have control and use this position to attack Israel. In response the Israelis have unleashed punishing air raids on Beirut. The people of Lebanon, both Christian and Muslim, are paying a terrible price for Hizbullah's presence. And part of that price will be not only be eroding Lebanon's hard restored sovereignty but its increasingly fragile democracy as well.


John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.