Asrata, Gafo: UNIFIL Mission Defined According to 1701… Situation Not Affected by Current Changes in Region
Local Editor
UNIFIL commander General Alberto Asarta Cuevas assured in remarks published Wednesday in As-Safir daily that UNIFIL is committed to its mandate as "clearly defined on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 1701."
The newspaper quoted general Asarta -responding to recent comments by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini- as saying that "UNIFIL could become an excellent deterrent even in confronting a new crisis in the region, but certainly not according to the mechanism of Resolution 1701."
Asarta told As-Safir in response that "if that happened, there must be a change in the nature of UNIFIL's mandate." He added "[UNIFIL] is not influenced by any political stance other than that announced by the UN."
On his part, Spanish Ambassador to Lebanon Juan Carlos Gafo told As-Safir "I will not comment on international statements in my capacity as Spanish ambassador, and I will not judge remarks coming from here or there. I do not even think that the Italian force [in UNIFIL] will be affected by these statements."
Spain is "committed to the peacekeeping mission and has no intention of reducing [troop] numbers [in UNIFIL], just as the goals of the mission have not and will not change," he said, according to the daily.
Commenting on the situation of the Blue Line following the killing of Al Qaeda chief Ossama Bin Laden, Gafo said he thinks that despite all what the Arab region witnesses of changes, Lebanon will not be affected negatively. He added that there is a state of anxiety in the country in absence of a government, which is heavily reflected on the Lebanese arena.
The Blue Line is a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon.
UNIFIL commander General Alberto Asarta Cuevas assured in remarks published Wednesday in As-Safir daily that UNIFIL is committed to its mandate as "clearly defined on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 1701."
The newspaper quoted general Asarta -responding to recent comments by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini- as saying that "UNIFIL could become an excellent deterrent even in confronting a new crisis in the region, but certainly not according to the mechanism of Resolution 1701."
Asarta told As-Safir in response that "if that happened, there must be a change in the nature of UNIFIL's mandate." He added "[UNIFIL] is not influenced by any political stance other than that announced by the UN."
On his part, Spanish Ambassador to Lebanon Juan Carlos Gafo told As-Safir "I will not comment on international statements in my capacity as Spanish ambassador, and I will not judge remarks coming from here or there. I do not even think that the Italian force [in UNIFIL] will be affected by these statements."
Spain is "committed to the peacekeeping mission and has no intention of reducing [troop] numbers [in UNIFIL], just as the goals of the mission have not and will not change," he said, according to the daily.
Commenting on the situation of the Blue Line following the killing of Al Qaeda chief Ossama Bin Laden, Gafo said he thinks that despite all what the Arab region witnesses of changes, Lebanon will not be affected negatively. He added that there is a state of anxiety in the country in absence of a government, which is heavily reflected on the Lebanese arena.
The Blue Line is a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations on 7 June 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon.
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