Cablegate: Unsc Adopts Resolution Extending Unfil's Mandate

VZCZCXRO2940
OO RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUCNDT #0797 2392308
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 272308Z AUG 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7121
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000797

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPKO UN IS LE
SUBJECT: UNSC ADOPTS RESOLUTION EXTENDING UNFIL'S MANDATE
FOR ONE YEAR

REF: STATE 89537

1. (U) The Council adopted unanimously UNSCR 1884 on August
27, thereby renewing UNIFIL's mandate until August 31, 2010.
Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US
co-sponsored the resolution. There were no explanations of
vote by Council members. (Note: Text of UNSCR 1884 will be
posted at www.un.org/Docs/sc/unsc resolutions09.htm. End
note.)

2. (SBU) After the adoption, both the Israeli and Lebanese
Perm Reps addressed the Council. Israeli Perm Rel Shalev
welcomed the Council's decision to extend UNIFIL's mandate.
She highlighted the July 14 arms cache explosion at Khirbet
Selim in southern Lebanon, quoting directly from the
Secretary-General's August 6 letter to the Security Council
in which he said the explosion was a clear violation of UNSCR
1701 and that Hizballah forces had been present near the
site. She said that there is evidence that Hizballah
constitutes a clear threat to international peace and
security. She called for the area south of the Litani River
to be free of armed personnel and weapons aside from those
authorized in UNSCR 1701. She cited Israel's appreciation of
UNIFIL, its troop contributing countries, and its Force
Commander and underscored Israel's dedication to the full
implementation of UNSCR 1701.

3. (SBU) The Lebanese Perm Rep Salam thanked the Council for
renewing UNIFIL's mandate without amendment, noting that
Lebanon has been the victim of repeated Israeli aggression
since 1978. He praised UNIFIL for its work and thanked the
troop contributing countries, the Department of Peacekeeping
Operations, and the UNIFIL Force Commander for their
leadership. Three years after the adoption of UNSCR 1701, he
said, much remains to be implemented. He highlighted
Israel's continuing violations of Lebanese sovereignty as
evidence of Israel's obstruction of the implementation of
UNSCR 1701. He cited daily Israeli air violations, its lack
of a withdrawal from northern Ghajar, the lack of a
resolution of the Sheb'a Farms and Kfar Shouba Hills, and the
operation of Israeli spy networks in Lebanon. Salam then
turned to Israeli Defense Minister Barak's comments that
Israel did not strike hard enough at Lebanon's infrastructure
during the 2006 conflict and would not make that same mistake
in a future conflict and contrasted those statements to UNSCR
1701. Salam then listed Lebanese civilian casualties and the
damage to Lebanese civilian infrastructure from the 2006
conflict, for example enumerating the number of schools
damaged in Israeli air strikes. Salam called for such
threats to be condemned. (Note: In his remarks, Salam did
not refer to the July 14 arms cache explosion or make any
implicit or explicit reference to Hizballah and its recent
activities and statements. End note.)
RICE

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