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Weimar Triangle defence ministers for Mideast truce before UN force deployed

by Staff Writers
Wieliczka, Poland (AFP) Jul 25, 2006
The defence ministers of France, Germany and Poland called Tuesday for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon before an international force is deployed.

"We call for an end to the violence and for an agreement that would allow an international force to be deployed," French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told a press conference held jointly with her Polish and German counterparts after a meeting in this southern Polish city.

"This force can only intervene after such an agreement has been reached. The mission of the force should be explicitly defined and it should be given significant equipment and legal means to do its job," she added.

Alliot-Marie, along with her Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski and Germany's Franz Josef Jung, also expressed serious concern for the situation in Lebanon, where "civilians are the main victims and the infrastructure has been seriously hit," Alliot-Marie said.

"Lebanon and the Middle East in general are sensitive, and any new crisis could enflame the region," she said.

The three defence ministers whose countries are grouped in the so-called Weimar Triangle also discussed the possibility of setting up a tri-nation "tactical group made up of 1,500 men, which would be operational by 2013," Sikorski said.

They also discussed the role being played by soldiers from their countries as part of an EU force in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to help ensure security during the vast African state's first elections since those held on independence from Belgium more than 40 years ago.

French, German and Polish soldiers form the biggest contingents in the EU force in DRC, which numbers around 2,000 soldiers.

The EU force will provide back-up to the 17,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission in DRC known as MONUC during the period encompassing the elections, the first round of which is due to be held on Sunday.

The Weimar Triangle was launched 15 years ago in the wake of the fall of communism and German unification, to pave the way for Poland to become a member of the European Union.

A summit of the three-nation grouping was cancelled early this month, officially because Polish President Lech Kaczynski was ill, although Polish newspapers speculated that he had shunned the meeting after a German newspaper ran a parody of him and his twin brother Jaroslaw, who recently became prime minister.

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UN official accuses Israel of excessive force in Gaza
Nusseirat, Gaza Strip (AFP) Jul 25, 2006
UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland on Tuesday blasted Israel's air strike last month on the sole power plant in the impoverished Gaza Strip as a "clear" example of disproportionate use of force.







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