Italy urges EU partners to join Lebanon UN force

Italy pressed fellow EU states yesterday to support its pledge of troops by sending soldiers to join a UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

Rome has said it could provide as many as 3,000 troops out of a European contingent of anything up to 9,000. The UN has authorised a total force of 15,000 and is concerned that hostilities could reignite if the deployment is delayed.

But with France offering just 200 troops for now and others fearful of getting caught up in a conflict without an adequate mandate to defend themselves, total commitments have been meagre and little progress is expected before a higher-level meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers tomorrow.

"Clearly Italy will be making an appeal for others to come forward. But we are not expecting firm pledges today," said one EU diplomat before the talks.

EU president Finland said envoys would concentrate on preparing the ground for Friday's meeting, which UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is also expected to attend.

Potential contributors, including Belgium, Spain and Nordic countries like Finland, are concerned that the exact nature of the mission is not clearly defined. Others such as Britain and the Netherlands stress their military commitments elsewhere. The 15,000 UN troops are due to work alongside a similar number of Lebanese soldiers deployed in the south to support a truce that ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas. Nearly 1,200 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis were killed in the conflict.