16 December 2011
SIDON, Lebanon: The head of the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization will begin a three-day visit to Lebanon Friday, according to security sources. Maj. Gen. Juha Kilpia is set to begin a three-day trip to south Lebanon where he will visit teams of observers, sources told The Daily Star Thursday.
UNTSO has been working in Lebanon since 1948 and its role is to monitor cease-fires, prevent incidents from escalating and assist other U.N. peacekeeping operations in the region.
The UNTSO team has four positions in south Lebanon, including Labboune, Marwahine, Markaba and Khiam, where four of its officers died in the 2006 war.
Meanwhile, a strategic review of UNIFIL is to be completed in coming weeks, a U.N. spokesman said Thursday, while denying a link to last week’s attack on French peacekeepers.
“There is a strategic review of UNIFIL underway right now. This has been in place for quite some time and is not linked to the recent attack targeting peacekeepers,” U.N. peacekeeping spokesman Kieran Dwyer told AFP.
Julian Harston, a veteran British diplomat and U.N. peacekeeping expert, is carrying out the review which is focusing on “operational configuration and strategy of the mission.”
“He is looking at whether it is structured in the right way and using its resources in the right way to carry out its mandate,” Dwyer said.
Once his work is completed, the U.N. Security Council will decide what changes to make to the force.
UNIFIL will also get a new commander in January, Italian ambassador to the U.N. Cesare Ragaglini confirmed to AFP. “At the request of the United Nations, Italy is available to take over the command of UNIFIL from January,” he said.
Brig. Gen. Paolo Serra will take over from Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas, U.N. sources said. Serra has previously served in the international force in Kosovo.
Separately, senior Lebanese and Israeli military officials met Thursday in Naqoura under the supervision of the U.N. to discuss implementation of Resolution 1701. Both countries expressed support for working with UNFIL.
A UNIFIL statement released after the four-hour meeting said participants discussed the attack that targeted French UNIFIL forces and other violations.
Military Tribunal Judge Saqr Saqr charged unknown individuals Thursday with forming an armed gang with the aim of carrying out terrorist activities and undermining the state’s authority by attacking the French UNIFIL contingent.
Copyright The Daily Star 2011.
