UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11: The United States and France negotiating a resolution which seeks to end hostilities in Lebanon on Friday reached an agreement and the resolution could be adopted by late Friday night.
A spokesman for the French Mission in an email message to news media said a text of the French-US draft resolution would be presented to the 15-member UN Security Council late in the afternoon.
The president of the UN Security Council for August, Nana Effah-Apenteng of Ghana, told reporters that he expected the Security Council to vote late Friday evening.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who arrived at the United Nations this morning said she expected final action on the resolution within hours.
UN envoys had been optimistic about settling the disputes over the text, but on Thursday the accord was set back by objections from Lebanon over the nature of the international force that is to be sent into south Lebanon once the truce is declared.
ISRAELI REACTION: The draft of the UN resolution on ending the Lebanon conflict is “unacceptable in its current state”, an Israeli spokesman told AFP on Friday. “The resolution draft was altered on the request of Lebanon, which is under pressure from Hezbollah. The discussions have now taken the appearance of haggling at a Lebanese carpet shop – we will not fall into this trap,” Avi Pazner said.
