UN: U.S. Ambassabor to the U.N. John Bolton plays down differences between U.S. and France on Lebanon force

Record ID: 335970

  • Title: UN: U.S. Ambassabor to the U.N. John Bolton plays down differences between U.S. and France on Lebanon force
  • Date: 3rd August 2006
  • Summary: (BN11) UNITED NATIONS (FILE) (REUTERS) WIDE SHOT: EXTERIOR OF THE UNITED NATIONS BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAB8ZHRKKTVXFKH6BBDVBI2FPF9
  • Story Text: U.S. Ambassador John Bolton played down differences between Washington and Paris on the Mideast situation on Wednesday (August 2), particularly on an immediate call for a truce. But he said there were differences over "the nature of a cessation of hostilities and how to make it permanent."
    Speaking to reporters outside the security council chamber, Bolton said "While I know it's tempting for ladies and gentlemen of the press to highlight differences that being much more interesting than areas of agreement, I think its important in this case, given the seriousness of the situation, to underline the real good faith and the intensity with which we are trying to resolve our differences."
    The U.S. ambassador said exactly how to end the fighting is still being debated and how many resolutions will be involved has yet to be determined.
    Among the options under consideration, U.N. officials said earlier, were beefing up the 2,000-strong U.N. force already in Lebanon and supplementing it with a rapid-reaction force that as yet has no volunteers.
    Bolton said one alternative under consideration is "Two different kinds of forces in two different kinds of periods because the situation at the outset when a force might go in could be substantially different than a period say six months later and over the longer term and that really is just a statement of the obvious but there's no decision on that and there's no split."
    Another point of discussion was how to make sure during a truce period that more arms were not being shipped to Hizbollah through Syria, Bolton said. He stressed that Hizbollah will have to make a choice to lay down its arms if it wants to be involved in the political process.
    "I think it is fundamental to 1559, to the full implementation of 1559 that Hizbollah has to give up being an armed force, a force that carries out terrorist action. If it wants to be a political party, it needs to be a real political party."
    The United States, France and Britain hope for a U.N. Security Council resolution within a week that would call for a truce and perhaps beef up U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon until a more robust force can be formed.
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