France Boosts Mideast Pledge

U.N. and U.S. officials welcomed France’s pledge Thursday of 2,000 soldiers for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, saying the offer should encourage other hesitant nations to help shore up the fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah.

In a nationally televised speech, French President Jacques Chirac also said France was prepared to lead the force after receiving clarifications from the United Nations and guarantees from Lebanon and Israel on how it would operate.

“It is a positive sign and we hope it will inspire other countries to contribute immediately and substantively,” said Nick Birnback, a U.N. peacekeeping official. “What is important is that the advance elements get there quickly to show the world that boots are on the ground, and to build confidence in the cease-fire,” which ended 34 days of fighting between Israeli troops and the Islamic militant group.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will meet with European Union foreign ministers today in Brussels to urge them to swiftly commit troops to the mission. Spain, Turkey (not an EU member) and Belgium are expected to make significant pledges.

Chirac’s offer comes after international criticism of France’s initial pledge of 200 troops, to join the 200 it already has in Lebanon.

France, the former colonial power in Lebanon, had been expected to take the lead and proffer thousands of troops, after having co-sponsored the resolution that called for the enlarged force.

Chirac’s initial reluctance gave other European nations cold feet and imperiled the effort to garner 13,000 soldiers to join the almost 2,000 U.N. troops who monitor the Lebanon-Israel border.

Paris had said it wanted more details on the force’s mandate, a move seen by critics at the U.N. and in Europe as “a polite fiction” because France had helped write the rules governing the force.

U.N. diplomats said those rules had not changed significantly since presented Aug. 18. Under them, U.N. soldiers are allowed to use force to defend themselves and civilians, to halt weapons smuggling and to disarm Hezbollah fighters or Israeli troops who refuse to put down their arms. The Lebanese army, however, is chiefly responsible for disarming Hezbollah, and the U.N. soldiers are not authorized to hunt for hidden weapons.

France’s reservations, diplomats say, are rooted in episodes in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s, when 84 French peacekeepers were killed because of restrictive rules that didn’t allow them to shoot unless they were shot at. In 1983, 58 French soldiers died on a peacekeeping mission in Lebanon when a barracks was blown up in an attack attributed to Hezbollah.

Italy came forward this week with an offer of as many as 3,000 troops and said it would lead the peacekeeping force, which increased pressure on Chirac.

Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema applauded France’s offer and called on other countries to overcome their concerns and join forces “to make peace prevail.”

“We expect and urge a strong commitment from the whole international community that must not miss a great opportunity,” D’Alema said in Rome, with visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni at his side.

Livni said the need to build and deploy a force was urgent.

“We are being watched also by the extremists who want to inflame the region, and this will test the strength and determination of the international community,” Livni said. “The real big question is whether the international community is willing to show determination in order to implement its own decisions.”

President Bush lauded France’s decision, praised Italy and encouraged other nations to contribute troops.

“This is an important step toward finalizing preparations to deploy the United Nations Interim Force of Lebanon,” he said from his ranch near Crawford, Texas.

The United States has offered $230 million in aid to Lebanon but no troops, as it is an ally of Israel and has few military personnel to spare.

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Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Rome contributed to this report.