Friday, August 25 2006 11:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Paris: French President Jacques Chirac said that 1,600 additional French soldiers would be deployed to reinforce the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon. He said yesterday (Aug 24, 2006) the conditions that France had demanded (for deployment of its soldiers) have been fulfilled. When deployed, the new contingent will bring the number of French soldiers in UNIFIL to 2,000.

Chirac said that France was ready to continue to command the UNIFIL force if the UN wishes. Earlier this month, Israel asked Italy to head the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, and Rome said it was willing to do so. On national television, Chirac said he had received sufficient guarantees from the UN and from Israel and Lebanon to ensure that the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) could operate at 'optimum efficiency and safety'. Chirac had been widely criticised for announcing a troop contribution of only 200 additional soldiers to Lebanon, along with the existing French UNIFIL deployment of 200, following the cessation of hostilities earlier this month between Hezbollah and Israel. US President George Bush, who had urged France to play a greater role, welcomed Chirac's announcement in a statement released by the White House. "This is an important step towards finalising preparations to deploy the UN Interim Force of Lebanon," Bush said.

"I applaud the decision of France, as well as the significant pledges from Italy and our other important allies," he said. However, the French president said he wanted to have the UN peacekeeping mission more precisely defined before deploying additional soldiers. Chirac's announcement preceded a planned meeting of EU foreign ministers with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Friday in Brussels, with pending decisions on the troop contributions of various EU nations to UNIFIL. Earlier Thursday, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora called on Paris to deploy "new troops" to beef up the UN peacekeeping force. "I will not deny the fact that the people here expected many more than 400 French soldiers," Seniora told Monaco's RMC radio.

"The Lebanese want a strong French presence, which would stimulate the other contributing countries to do the same," he said.