U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Mallock Brown said Friday the world body was disappointed by France's commitment of only 200 engineers to a U.N. peacekeeping force for Lebanon and urged the rest of Europe to quickly provide the needed troops. “The particular appeal that I want to make today is that Europe comes forward with troops for this first wave [of soldiers],” Malloch Brown told reporters, referring to the U.N. resolution that calls for an immediate deployment of 3,500 troops to Lebanon within the next 10 days and an additional 14,500 troops to follow at a later date. Malloch Brown said he was pleased with the firm offerings made at a troop contribution meeting Thursday by members states, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Malaysia, and Indonesia. He cited the importance of “a Muslim-European force, because both groups [are] interested in this situation. They bring a legitimacy that satisfies both sides of this conflict.” Possible troop contributing countries will study the rules of engagement and the concept of operation distributed by the United Nations on Thursday and make decisions this weekend whether they will deploy peacekeepers. The world body was encouraged by the Italy's suggestion that it may send up to 3,000 troops, and hoped for news of participation from Finland on Friday. Germany is set to send customs officials to man checkpoints on the Lebanese-Syrian border to make sure that no weapons are smuggled. Germany also is sending a naval unit. Germany noted that it was willing to contribute, but did not want to put itself in the line of fire with Israeli troops due to the delicate history between Germany and Jews. --MORE
