http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=35002
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Hezbollah, Israel accept mediation on soldiers: Annan
JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) - UN chief Kofi Annan said yesterday that Israel
and Lebanon's Hezbollah which fought a fierce month-long war have accepted
United Nations mediation on two captured Israeli soldiers.
"Both parties have accepted the good offices of the secretary-general to
help resolve this problem," he told a press conference in the Red Sea city of
Jeddah after talks with Saudi leaders.
"I will work with the parties and I will designate someone to work
discreetly and quietly with them to find a solution," he said. "I will not even
tell you the name of the person ... because I want him to be able to work
discreetly."
Annan stressed that "the only (thing) I insisted on is that if I am going
to use my good offices, then my mediator should be the only mediator. If others
get involved, we will pull out because you would get wires crossed."
The release of the soldiers, whose capture by Hezbollah in a cross-border
raid on July 12 sparked a 34-day war, is at the centre of a UN resolution for a
permanent ceasefire on the Lebanon-Israel border. Hezbollah wants to exchange
the soldiers for Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails. Hezbollah and the
Jewish state have been involved in prisoner exchanges in the past.
There was no immediate reaction on the report from Israel or Hezbollah.
The Lebanese government agreed to file a complaint to the UN Security
Council over Israel's nearly eight-week-old air and sea blockade despite the
truce. Israel says it has kept its embargo to prevent Hezbollah from rearming.
Shipping industry newspaper Lloyd's List will report today that Israel
was allowing certain ships, mainly oil tankers carrying petroleum product and
ships ferrying aid, to enter Lebanese ports.
"Whoever submits a request and has it approved can enter," an Israeli
Army spokeswoman said.
She added that ships and planes that met certain criteria would be
allowed to reach Lebanon despite the naval and aerial blockades, but refused to
elaborate on what the conditions were.
In another sign of progress, the commander of UN peacekeepers said a
joint meeting with Lebanese and Israeli officers yesterday had brought closer a
full Israeli troop withdrawal from south Lebanon in line with Resolution 1701.
The United Nations has said the Israeli pullout would be completed once
the number of peacekeepers, which now stands at 3,100, reaches 5,000.
Major-General Alain Pellegrini met representatives of the Lebanese and
Israeli armies at his Unifil headquarters in the southern Lebanese port of
Naqoura to coordinate the process of the Israeli pullout and Lebanese
deployment, in conjunction with the peacekeepers, a UN statement said.
"The meeting was productive and I think we are on the right track in
securing the full withdrawal of IDF (Israeli forces) from Lebanon and finally
ensuring that the Lebanese Army will take control of the whole border area in
the south," he said. - Reuters
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