"New rules" of engagement for UN

[sonic]

And they are supposed to be peacekeepers.

This from Reuters this morning.

It may disappear before long.

UN permits wide use of force in Lebanon operation
Wed 23 Aug 2006 0:50:45 BST
By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 22 (Reuters) - New rules of engagement for U.N. troops in Lebanon permit soldiers to shoot in self-defense, use force to protect civilians and resist armed attempts to interfere with their duties, a U.N. document says.

The 21 pages of rules, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, adhere to the mandate laid down by the U.N. Security Council in an Aug. 11 resolution and drafted by France and the United States. That did not call on the U.N. force, known as UNIFIL, to carry out large-scale disarmament of Hizbollah guerrillas in a southern Lebanon buffer zone.

The rules, given to potential troop contributors last week for approval, have been generally accepted, said Vijay Nambiar, a special adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

"We have not received any major requests for any change," Nambiar told a news conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday, "We assume that we will be able to finalize them imminently."

In an attempt to enforce a fragile cease-fire after Hizbollah's monthlong war with Israel, the United Nations wants 3,500 new peacekeepers in Lebanon by Sept. 2 and up to 15,000 there by November, including the 2,000 on the ground now in UNIFIL.

The current UNIFIL, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, established in 1978, also had the right to self-defense but was mainly an observer mission.

Specifically, the new rules of engagement, marked "U.N. Restricted," permit the right of self-defense and "preemptive self-defense" against an anticipated attack. But in many cases, a senior officer has to approve force if U.N. troops are not under attack.

The soldiers can also use force against anyone preventing UNIFIL from carrying out its duties and to ensure the security and freedom of movement of U.N. personnel and humanitarian workers and to protect civilians under imminent threat, the rules say.

The use of force, "including deadly force," is also authorized to defend the Lebanese armed forces that a U.N. unit may be assigned to accompany, providing the threatening group or person is armed.

Force must be commensurate with the level of the threat. But the level of response may have to be higher in order to minimize U.N. or civilian casualties, the rules say.

DISARMING HIZBOLLAH?

The mandate, approved by the Security Council on Aug. 11, calls on UNIFIL to assist the Lebanese armed forces in establishing a buffer zone free of unauthorized weapons.

According to Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy U.N. secretary-general, the mandate made clear UNIFIL was not to carry out large-scale disarmament.

But he said peacekeepers could respond if small groups did not disarm voluntarily when confronted with U.N. troops. "If they try to forcefully resist disarmament, then we will indeed employ force ourselves to disarm them," Malloch Brown told reporters after chairing a troop contributors meeting last week.

European Union officials are to meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss troop contributions, in preparation for a foreign ministers meeting on Friday that Annan is expected to attend.

France has said it would only contribute 200 soldiers in addition to the 200 already with UNIFIL, although it may make another announcement before Friday. Italy has volunteered to lead the force, now under a French general.






© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.


Bold emphasis is mine.

This is surely a very worrying situation!

First of all the UN becomes defunct (war on Iraq) and now it seems to be eveolving into an armed wing of the geopolitcal hegemony (that is if it wasn't already).


Peace,

Sonic.

[Newspeak International]

It's one of the possibilities that you had thought of surely sonic?
so not surprising really,good to have it on the record though.