Wednesday - August 16, 2006

Constructive Ambiguity?

Question: what do you get when you combine the United Nations, French troops, angry Hezbollah terrorists and even angrier Israeli army troops?

Answer: I don’t know but it promises to be more hilarious than a barrel of drunk monkeys going over a waterfall singing “Le Marseilles” out of tune.

Evidently the French are confused about what constitutes “hotile activites” ... which is not surprising, considering the military history of the Frogs. Throw the UN into the mix and you have the blind leading the blind .. in the middle of a hornet’s nest.

I have my popcorn all ready for this show. The Frogs are going to maintain peace with the backing of the UN and neither has a clue about how to do it? Bwah-hah-hah-hah-hah-ha-ha-ha-ha .... oh, stop it - you’re killing me ....

U.N. Troops’ Mandate Not All That Clear
_{BEIRUT (AP) - August 16, 2006, 3:02 PM EDT}

The U.N. peace troops shipping out soon to south Lebanon may find their first skirmish will be over words—like “hostile activities” and “all necessary action.”

The cease-fire resolution that diplomats produced in New York’s air-conditioned backrooms last week equips the new truce force with an uncertain mandate, one that could confuse as much as calm the situation once they hit the ground in Lebanon’s smoldering summer hills, peacekeeping veterans say.

“They call it `constructive ambiguity,’” one ex-U.N. official, Timur Goksel, said disparagingly of vague passages in Resolution 1701. Another said French commanders, expected to lead the mission, had better nail down detailed, approved rules for action before the mission.

“This, to me, looks like it will be a rough one,” added Ian Johnstone. “My advice to the French is to work this out carefully.”

The Security Council resolution halted a monthlong conflict in which Israel tried and failed to neutralize Hezbollah via air and ground attacks on Lebanon, and the Shiite Muslim militia poured thousands of rockets onto Israeli targets.

The council called for Hezbollah to cease attacks and Israel to cease “offensive military operations,” and for Lebanese army units and the U.N. force to deploy in the south, as Israeli troops withdraw. The 18-mile-deep southern zone is supposed to then be free of armed Hezbollah fighters.

The first fresh peacekeepers may arrive within two weeks under the new mandate, reinforcing UNIFIL, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, U.N. officials say. Full deployment of up to 15,000 U.N. “blue helmets” may take months.

French and other envoys, meanwhile, are returning to those U.N. backrooms to talk over Resolution 1701’s real meaning. “It’s time for a robust force, but they have to negotiate every aspect of that mandate, including when to use force and when not to use force,” said Sir Brian Urquhart, former chief of U.N. peacekeeping.

Questions focus on a paragraph deep in the lengthy document, in which the council authorizes the strengthened U.N. force “to take all necessary action” to, among other things, ensure no “hostile activities” take place in its zone, and to “protect civilians.”

“What constitutes `hostile activities’?” asked Tufts University’s Johnstone, a one-time U.N. peacekeeping official who edits an annual journal on peace operations.

“One can imagine all the situations where one side takes action and that’s interpreted as hostile by the other, and UNIFIL will have to decide.”

- More Frog Fears from AP ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/16/2006 at 03:44 PM   
Filed Under: • Middle-East • United-Nations •  
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