Two of the three United Nations special envoys recently returned from the Middle East suggested on Friday that “energetic diplomatic activities” will begin next week to create some sort of peace process for the recent crisis in Lebanon. Terje Roed-Larsen said that the team was awaiting orders from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on whether it would return to the Middle East. Roed-Larsen told reporters that the three-man team had a “very good” meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday morning. “I think we see eye to eye on what the basic elements of what any action plan should be,” but he noted that it was too early to go into the details. Roed-Larsen said all parties at the United Nations agree that “UNIFIL, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, has to be fundamentally reconfigured. But all other options are on the table.” There are several military models currently under discussion. The first, according to Roed-Larsen, would be a multinational force which is not endorsed by a Security Council resolution. A force endorsed by the council but without U.N. peacekeepers is a possibility, he said, as is a traditional U.N. peacekeeping force.
