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French soldiers stand while a French
navy landing craft unloads equipment in the southern Lebanese port of
Naqura, near Tyre (Soure), August 25, 2006.(Xinhua/Reuters
Photo)
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France waiting for European
countries' commitment to UNIFIL: FM
PARIS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- France, which announced on
Thursday it would contribute a total of 2,000 troops to the enlarged UN Interim
Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), was waiting for its European partners' commitment to
the force, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Friday.
Douste-Blazy told RTL radio that French President
Jacques Chirac had cleared up the misunderstanding by Thursday's announcement,
which was a significant effort. Full story>>
France pledges to
send 2000 troops to Lebanon [Special Report][Photos][Videos]
BEIJING, Aug. 25 -- French president Jacques
Chirac has announced that his country will send a total of two-thousand troops
to join the UN peacekeeping force to be deployed in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile
EU foreign ministers are due to meet in Brussels on Friday to discuss their
shares of troops in the UN forces.
In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Chirac
said the United Nations had provided security and efficiency guarantees enabling
France to increase its shares of troops. He clarified that the two thousand
soldiers include the 400 military personnel already present on the ground.
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In a nationally televised address on
Thursday, Chirac said the United Nations had provided security and
efficiency guarantees enabling France to increase its shares of
troops.(Photo: CCTV)
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"France is ready, should the UN want it, to carry on
and assume the commandment of the UN force. We will evaluate this disposal
within six months, examining the evolution of the situation." Full story>>
France wants to "go further"
in commitment to Lebanon
PARIS, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- French Prime Minister
Dominique de Villepin said Wednesday that France wants to "go further" in
committing troops to Lebanon "once conditions are fulfilled".
"Today we're the country that's the most committed
and present on the ground. We want to go further once conditions are fulfilled,"
Villepin said after meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Paris,
noting that France had doubled its contingent in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL) and planned to send 1,700people bringing a logistic support.
"It is extremely important for France -- with our
strong experience in Lebanon, with international experience in other arenas --
that all guarantees can be supplied for an effective deployment of UNIFIL on the
ground," he said, ensuring Livni to "go further, with Israel and all the
countries of the region in a spirit of responsibility for the good
implementation of the resolution 1701".
The UN Security Council Resolution 1701, unanimously
adopted on Aug. 11, gives a mandate for UNIFIL to swell from its current level
of 2,000 troops to 15,000. Enditem
