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Attack on UN post rocks Lebanon conference
By Stephen Collinson
AFP
ROME
Petroleumworld.com 07 26 06
A critical international Lebanon crisis conference looked set to be shrouded in recriminations Wednesday, after an Israeli attack on a UN post in the war-torn nation killed up to four UN observers.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan quickly expressed shock and branded the incident an "apparently deliberate" attack by Israeli forces, on the eve of the meeting of 15 nations plus the European Union and the World Bank here.
The attack took place in the hilltop town of Khiam, close to the Israeli border, which is a Hezbollah stronghold and had been under heavy bombardment.
Annan, in a statement issued here, described the strike as a "coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long established and clearly marked UN post" and called on Israel for a "full investigation" and demanded an end to "any further attack on UN positions."
He said it took place "despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire."
Israel's UN ambassador said he was "shocked" by Annan's accusations.
"I was shocked and deeply distressed by the hasty statement by the secretary general insinuating that Israel has deliberately targeted the UN post at Khiam and surprised at these premature and erroneous assertions," Ambassador Dan Gillerman told BBC World Service.
Annan earlier rushed out of a Rome hotel hosting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just before midnight, saying he was trying to find details of the attack.
A senior State Department official meanwhile said on condition of anonymity that the incident was a "terrible tragedy."
"The Israelis have told us it was an accident," the official said, before learning of Annan's statement.
The strike threatened to disrupt US efforts to lay down a "framework" for a sustained end to conflict in Lebanon, even as it rejects calls from Arab and European allies for an "immediate" end to hostilities.
World powers had earlier appeared deeply divided ahead of the crisis talks.
Rice arrived in Rome from the troubled region late Tuesday with a top aide saying a ceasefire would be hard to achieve.
"We desire a ceasefire tomorrow if it can be sustained and built in the proper way. Objectively this is going to be hard to do," said David Welch, US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs.
Rice has rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire from some of Washington's European and Arab allies, saying the conflict can only be resolved by addressing its root causes.
That reflects a US policy that an immediate truce would give Hezbollah guerrillas time to rearm and fail to resolve the crisis long-term.
In turn, the US stance buys Israel time to accomplish its military objectives, which has angered Arab states ahead of the conference.
As part of its attempt to tackle what it sees as the underlying causes of the conflict, Washington also hopes to win support for some kind of measure to deter Syria and Iran from interfering in Lebanon.
The US holds Syria and Iran responsible for blocking the implementation of UN Resolution 1559, which calls on Syria to cease interference in its neighbour's political affairs.
"Those irresponsible voices will not be in Rome," said Welch.
Showing no sign of relenting in an onslaught that has killed some 400 people, mostly civilians, Israeli jets blasted Beirut and Israeli ground forces fought their way into the border town of Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah military stronghold in southern Lebanon.
"Israel is determined to carry on the fight against Hezbollah," Olmert said as he met Rice in Jerusalem.
Wednesday's four-hour conference at Italy's foreign ministry will bring together ministers from 15 countries as well as top officials from the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank.
"The primary objective is a ceasefire," Italy's Prime Minister Romano Prodi told journalists Tuesday, although clear differences were emerging as to when a cessation of hostilities should begin.
Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Siniora had little hope of achieving an early ceasefire as he left Beirut to begin a circuitous journey to the Rome talks.
"I want to be clear on this: I do not expect the Rome conference to lead to a ceasefire, even if we must do everything in our power to reach one," he said, making it clear he saw it more as an exercise in advertising the plight of the Lebanese people.
Siniora was speaking to reporters before boarding a UN helicopter for Cyprus, a key transit point to and from Lebanon where Israeli bombardments have closed Beirut's international airport.
Arab nations will nevertheless continue to insist on an immediate ceasefire. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia said they would speak with one voice at the talks.
Linked to the ceasefire issue is the question of a stabilization force for southern Lebanon.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told parliament in London that the issue would likely be tackled in Rome, but warned it would be "time consuming and not easy."
AFP 26 0117 GMT 07 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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