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UN Fact-finding Probe Group to Go to Middle East Soon
Former US Senator George Mitchell said November 27 that a fact-finding committee he heads on Palestinian-Israeli conflict intended to go to the region soon and complete its report next March.
"The committee will travel to the region in connection with its work in the near future," Mitchell told a press conference in a New York hotel here after meeting with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. But he did not give a specific date.
He said that he had met with both Israeli and Palestinian envoys. But he did not give any further detail.
However, Mitchell made it clear that he had not yet organized a technical backup team. He said that this group could well include military specialists to investigate the violence between Palestinians and Israelis that broke out on September 28 and since has claimed more than 280 lives, mostly Palestinians.
"If we are to function effectively, we must be independent," he said. "We are not part of a military observer force."
Palestinians have pushed for a separate force, believing a few observers with Mitchell's group would be inadequate.
The fact-finding committee was agreed on by Israelis and Palestinians in mid-October at a Middle East summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, that was presided over by US President Bill Clinton and organized by Annan.
The committee convened its first meeting in New York Sunday followed by a visit to Annan at the UN headquarters in New York Monday. Mitchell also met the UN secretary-general two weeks ago after the UN Security Council members questioned delays in getting the group organized.
Annan, after meeting this group, argued that it should go to the region "sooner rather than later as they could have a calming influence," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
Mitchell is a Democrat from the US State of Maine, and he is former Senate majority leader who was a key mediator in the Northern Ireland conflict.
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