Original source URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060909/ap_on_re_mi_ea/syria_peacekeepers_2 Italy: Syria agrees to EU border troops By MARIA SANMINIATELLI, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 34 minutes ago Syria has agreed "in principle" to a European Union presence on its border to help stem the flow of weapons into Lebanon, Italy's prime minister said Saturday. Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a TV interview last month that he would consider the deployment of international troops along the Lebanon-Syria border a hostile move toward his country. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said he had spoken with Assad several times over the last few days. "I reminded President Assad that the European Union has significant experience in training programs for frontier guards, and that the idea of an EU mission of assistance on the border between Syria and Lebanon would be an excellent signal of cooperation between Syria and Europe," Prodi said in a statement. "President Assad gave me his accord in principle." Damascus had no immediate comment on Prodi's announcement. Syria's official news agency reported late Friday that Assad talked by phone with Prodi to discuss the "latest developments in the region and in Lebanon," but the report did not mention deployment of peacekeepers. Prodi said details of a proposal were being worked out and would be presented at a meeting of the EU's foreign affairs committee on Thursday in Brussels, Belgium. Syria and Iran are the main backers of the Hezbollah militants based in south Lebanon, and Israeli officials repeatedly have said the guerrillas receive arms from the two countries. Israel lifted its sea blockade of Lebanon on Friday, more than three weeks after a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants. U.N. peacekeeping troops now face their first test in preventing weapons getting to Hezbollah. In comments to the ANSA news agency that were confirmed by Prodi's office, the premier said the European guards would not be armed and would not be in uniform, but would have all the "necessary instruments to check on the passage of arms toward southern Lebanon." "We believe that a significant quantity of arms pass through this border ... toward southern Lebanon," Prodi said. The Italian premier also said Assad had told him Syria would beef up security at the border by sending 500 border guards. Prodi has discussed the plan with Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Italy's "main European partners" had welcomed the proposal "with great interest," the premier said. The U.N. resolution that set up the cease-fire in Lebanon calls for the eventual disarmament of Hezbollah's Shiite guerrillas, but the U.N. peacekeeping force does not have a mandate to search out weapons and take them. That job is up to the Lebanese army, Annan says, but Lebanon has not said whether it will do so. It appeared the peacekeepers will aim to ensure that guerrillas are not seen in public with weapons and that no new arms are moved in. Rome is contributing the largest contingent to the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/ Blogs: cyberjournal forum http://cyberjournal-rkm.blogspot.com/ Achieving real democracy http://harmonization.blogspot.com/ for readers of ETM http://matrixreaders.blogspot.com/ Community Empowerment http://empowermentinitiatives.blogspot.com/ Blogger made easy http://quaylargo.com/help/ezblogger.html
