Leaked Security Council draft: UNIFIL mandate extended 1 year
Document expresses deep concern over Resolution 1701 violations
The draft to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been made available to the media, a day before an official Security Council decision is expected. Lebanese papers on Wednesday carried leaked copies of the draft, overseen by French diplomats, which called on member states, as well as Lebanon and Israel to “help secure a permanent ceasefire in the long-term solution as mentioned in Resolution 1701.”
It states that the Security Council has decided “to extend the mandate of UNIFIL until August 31, 2010.”
Deputy UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told The Daily Star that it would refrain from commenting on the draft until an official announcement had been made from New York.
“I would say that we should wait and see what happens tomorrow and wait until the actual resolution comes out,” he said.
“I don’t know where they got their information from.”
Speculation has been mounting ahead of the extension deadline that Libya – the only Arab Security Council member – is pushing for an article mentioning all “serious violations” of Resolution 1701. However, An-Nahar quoted Wednesday a “western source” who described such conjecture as a “big error.”
While the draft mentions “deep concern over violations relating to Resolution 1701, especially the latest dangerous violations,” it stops short of explicitly citing incidents such as the arms cache blast near Khirbet Silim, southern Leba-non, in July and persistent flyovers by Israeli jets, which many view as flagrant violations of UN law.
Former long-term UNIFIL adviser Timor Goksel told The Daily Star that mentioning the violations without specific reference to individual incidents was significant as it put them “on the record.”
He suggested that the draft could have been leaked to gauge regional reaction ahead of any official announcement.
Security Council Resolution 1701 was drafted to end the 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel and extended UNIFIL’s operational mandate while expanding its troop numbers between the Litani River and the Blue Line – the boundary of Israeli military withdrawal from Lebanon.
The draft reiterates the necessity of “demarcating the Blue Line and reaching an agreement concerning the upper part of Ghajar.”
Ghajar’s residents live in a town which straddles the marker between Israel and Lebanon. Although they have Israeli identification cards, debate rages as to what should become of the village, with Israel bullish on the prospect of its inhabitants gaining Lebanese citizenship.
The draft also “stresses the importance that UNIFIL be equipped with all necessary material to execute its mandate,” to which Goksel expressed surprise. “I thought they were well equipped, I don’t think that [UNIFIL troops] are missing anything.”
Earlier this month, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wrote a letter to the Security Council calling for the extension of UNIFIL’s mandate “without amendment.” In it he expressed concern that a reduced amount of equipment and personnel could hamper UNIFIL’s ability to operate effectively. Ban also called the alleged stockpiling of weapons close to the Blue Line by groups other than the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL “a clear violation” of 1701.
Goksel cited Article Five of the draft – which states the UN’s “intolerance toward any form of sexual exploitation or abuse” and calls for all member states “to take all necessary measures to prevent such actions and punish the culprits” – as particularly unexpected.
“There has never been any reference to staff problems [in previous extensions]. If anything that serious has happened then we should have heard about it,” he said. “To put it in the operational part of the mandate doesn’t make sense.”
The new draft states the importance of keeping the area “free of armed individuals or any arms except those pertaining to the Lebanese Government and UNIFIL.”
Although UNIFIL’s operational mandate remains ostensibly unchanged, the draft asks the ecretary general “to continue presenting reports to the council concerning the execution of Resolution 1701 once every four months and whenever he deems necessary.”
Western sources told An-Nahar that “the revision is part of a broader project concerning the mandates of all peacekeeping forces across the world in the aim of allowing the forces to better perform their duties.”
Goksel said that the operational continuity of the draft had been expected: “From an operative [stance] there’s nothing new.”
According to the draft, the UN believes that Lebanon “still represents a threat to international peace and security.”
An official announcement is expected from the Security Council on Thursday.