UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Friday criticized the chief UN peacekeeper in Lebanon for not acting against reports of Hezbollah weaponry but UN spokesman replied by saying they "stand by the general."
"We need to have changes in UNIFIL (the UN Interim Force in Lebanon)," Haley told reporters following her recent trip to Europe and the Middle East, including Israel and neighboring Lebanon. "The bottomline is, UNIFIL is not doing its job effectively as we need it to."
But, UN Secretary-General's spokesman Stephane Dujarric defended the head of UNIFIL, Force Commander Maj. Gen. Michael Beary of Ireland.
"We obviously stand by the force commander in UNIFIL and we have full confidence in his work," the spokesman said. "I think the men and women of UNIFIL are doing work in a very delicate area. They report regularly and faithfully on what they see and on what they observe."
Beary "continues his work with the full support of the (UN) secretary-general," Dujarric added.
The U.S. ambassador said she was in negotiations over renewal of the UNIFIL mandate in the Security Council, charged with maintaining international peace and security.
"We talk a lot around here about prevention of conflict," Haley said. "It's true there has been no conflict in south Lebanon since 2006 but that's not the same as peace and security. Since 2006 there has been a massive flow of illegal weapons to Hezbollah mostly smuggled in by Iran. That is not prevention of war, that is preparation of war."
She said UNIFIL is supposed to work with the Lebanese armed forces to stop violations of a Security Council resolution or at least report of them. "Yet we have not seen one single instance that UNIFIL is doing that."
"What I find totally baffling is the view of the UNIFIL commander, Gen. Beary," she said, adding "it's time the Security Council puts teeth in the UNIFIL operation."
