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France Not to Send More Peacekeepers to Lebanon
France will not send more troops to join the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said the French Foreign Ministry on Friday.
"Today, it is no," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne Gazeau-Secret when she was asked if France would participate in a reinforcement of UNIFIL.
She quoted sources of the United Nations as saying that the United Nations will add no more than 900 soldiers to UNIFIL, which now has 4,500 soldiers including 249 from France.
But France will send a team of "specialists" to UNIFIL, Agence France-Presse quoted official sources as saying.
Ukraine has agreed to send 650 soldiers to UNIFIL and Sweden is also considering contributing troops, according to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.
UNIFIL will be re-deployed in Lebanon's border area with Israel, which was evacuated by Israeli troops on May 24.
France has insisted that Lebanon must deploy its government forces in the border area before a re-deployment of UNIFIL can be done. Lebanon's border area with Israel is now controlled by the pro-Iranian Hezbollah Shiite Muslim guerrillas.
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