US WANTS UN RESOLUTION ON DISARMING HIZBOLLAH

By Evelyn Leopold August 21, 2206

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States wants a new U.N. Security Council resolution on disarming the Hizbollah militant group, but this should not hold up the quick dispatch of U.N. troops to Lebanon, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said on Monday.

Bolton said there was no particular timing for the resolution, but that there had to be a follow-up measure to earlier Security Council demands that the southern Lebanon group disarm.

"And so the question of dealing with Hizbollah, or whether they deal with themselves by becoming a real political party instead of a terrorist group, is obviously on the agenda. But there is no timetable," Bolton told reporters.

Aiming to enforce a fragile cease-fire after Hizbollah's month-long war with Israel, the United Nations wants 3,500 new peacekeepers in Lebanon by September 2 and sent rules of engagement to all interested troop contributors last week for comments and amendments. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that no country yet had made a comment or asked for a clarification.

The rules of engagement stem from a mandate given to the new U.N. force by the Security Council on August 11, which authorized up to 13,000 new troops in addition to the 2,000 now in Lebanon.

Rules of engagement are not included in U.N. resolutions but are worked out afterwards.

But some European nations, expected to be the backbone of the peacekeeping force, have not yet committed to deploying troops until the mission is more clearly defined, apparently fearing being caught in cross-fire.

"DANGEROUS SITUATION"

France, which was instrumental in writing the mandate and helped draft subsequent rules of engagement, is sending only 200 engineers in addition to the 200 troops now in the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.

"It is obviously a very dangerous situation. The cease-fire is quite fragile," Bolton said. "Countries that are trying to take this decision want to be sure that their troops will have the maximum opportunity to defend themselves."

"That is one of the reasons why we and others sought a very robust mandate for the force, and why this may still remain to be worked out," Bolton added.

Italy has offered to lead UNIFIL, now under the command of a French general. Dujarric said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would make the final decision.

On disarming Hizbollah, the new U.N. troops are to assist the Lebanese army but not do the disarmament themselves unless they encounter small groups smuggling in weapons. But they have the right to shoot if they are in danger.

Hizbollah has promised to cooperate with Lebanese and U.N. forces, but has made clear it will keep its weapons -- although political sources say it has offered to keep them out of sight.

"There will be another resolution coming out of the United Nations, giving further instructions to the international force," President George W. Bush told a news conference in Washington on Monday.

But Bush said it was important first "to get the rules of engagement clear so that the force will be robust to help the Lebanese."

"I understood what he was saying was that ... the disarming of Hizbollah, which was not specifically addressed in 1701, would have to be addressed," Bolton said, referring to the August 11 resolution.

Bolton's spokesman Richard Grenell said it was still premature to talk about the resolution.

"Our focus is on trying to get a robust, international force on the ground," he told Reuters.