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BEIRUT, Sept 4: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Monday he would appoint a secret negotiator to mediate between Israel and Hezbollah for the release of two Israeli soldiers captured in July.
But Israeli officials said Mr Annan’s role was to secure the release of the soldiers demanded by a UN resolution, not to mediate. Hezbollah gave a cautious response, backing only indirect negotiations to secure a prisoner exchange.
“The two sides have accepted the effort of the secretary-general to help solve this problem,” Mr Annan told a news conference in Saudi Arabia. “I will appoint a person to work secretly with the two sides ... I will not announce his name today or tomorrow,” he said through an Arabic interpreter.
The release of the soldiers, whose capture by Hezbollah in a cross-border raid on July 12 sparked a 34-day invasion by Israel, is at the centre of a UN resolution for a permanent ceasefire on the Lebanon-Israel border.
Hezbollah wants to exchange the soldiers for Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails. Hezbollah and the Jewish state have been involved in prisoner exchanges in the past.
“A mediator is not needed,” an Israeli government official said. “The UN resolution determines that soldiers will be released unconditionally. The UN Secretary-General will assist and not mediate.”
Israel’s official position remains that it will not enter into any negotiations to free the soldiers, foreign ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
When asked about the announcement, a senior Hezbollah official, Energy Minister Mohammed Fneish, said he was not authorised to comment on any role for Mr Annan, but added: “We agree to a basic principle which is to conduct a prisoner exchange through indirect negotiations. Who is the channel is a detail.”
LEBANESE COMPLAINT: The Lebanese government agreed to file a complaint to the UN Security Council over Israel’s nearly eight-week-old air and sea blockade despite the truce. Israel says it has kept its embargo to prevent Hezbollah from rearming.
The government also agreed to request UN peacekeepers to help secure the country’s coast, despite reservations by Hezbollah. Germany has said it is waiting for an official Lebanese request to contribute troops to UN peacekeepers, mainly naval forces.
PULLOUT: In another sign of progress, the commander of UN peacekeepers said a joint meeting with Lebanese and Israeli officers on Monday had brought closer a full Israeli troop withdrawal from south Lebanon in line with Resolution 1701.
The United Nations has said the Israeli pullout would be completed once the number of peacekeepers, which now stands at 3,100, reaches 5,000.
Major-General Alain Pellegrini, commander of UN peacekeepers, said a joint meeting with Lebanese and Israeli officers put ‘on the right track’ the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and the deployment of Lebanese troops, backed by the UN force. —Reuters
