Annan fleshes out plans for Lebanon force

Annan elaborated on his proposals after talks in Brussels with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who was preparing to head back to the region.

If approved by the United Nation's Security Council, the proposed new UN stabilisation force would be much bigger than the current 2,000-strong UN force in the country, the UN secretary general said.

"Details will have to be worked out including the concept and the size. I would expect a force which is considerably larger than the 2,000 force that is there," he told reporters.

"I would expect a force that would have a modified and a different concept of operations," he said in Brussels, where he held talks on the Middle East in the sidelines of a conference on Darfur.

The proposal for an international stabilisation force was made by leaders of the G8 nations -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Russia and the United States -- at a weekend summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Annan said he hoped the UN Security Council would give the new force a mandate "to help stabilise the situation while the government of Lebanon tries to organise itself and ... prepare its army to extend its authority" in the southern part of the country.

He said that would give the Lebanese government "time for them to sort out the disarmament of the militia," which triggered the current upsurge of violence by seizing two Israeli soldiers.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday that the force must have more bite and "far greater" numbers than Unifil, set up in March 1978 to oversee the volatile border region between Lebanon and Israel.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi talked of 8,000 troops, but the United States has appeared cautious, stressing that all the leaders had done was to ask the United Nations to consider deployment.

European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso reiterated that a number of European Union countries have said they stand ready to participate in such a force.

"This is crucially important and we hope that we can help the parties avoid an escalation of violence. We are very concerned with the situation there," said Barroso.

Annan welcomed the EU commitment.

"I would expect contributions from the European countries and countries from other regions," he said, adding that the UN Security Council "will have to discuss this and define a specific mandate" for the force.

But the UN chief stressed the need in the short term to curb the upsurge of violence, which was triggered by the seizure of two Israeli soldiers for Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

"I'm extremely concerned about developments on the ground ... It is urgent that the international community acts to make a difference on the ground," he said.

Meanwhile, the EU's Solana pushing ahead with his efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the violence said that he was preparing to head back to the Middle East following a snap weekend trip to Lebanon.

"I have been there a few days ago and I may be continuing the trip in the coming hours," the EU's top diplomat told journalists.

His spokeswoman said that Solana was expected to leave late Tuesday but declined to specify his destination.