UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the killing of four UN peacekeepers in an Israel bombardment on Tuesday could cast a shadow over the effort to find troops but that he was confident countries would give help. The United States, Britain and other countries have called for a strong stabilisation force to be sent to southern Lebanon, though the United States has said it will not contribute soldiers.
"We will be bringing together the group of countries that may be potential troop contributors," Annan told reporters. "Obviously it will be preliminary discussions because we do not have the mandate of the Security Council yet," Annan said. "It is a mandate for what the troops are being asked to do that will eventually help governments make up their minds whether they participate."
Diplomats said foreign ministers from the 15 Security Council members could meet on Thursday. Annan said a meeting may be held next week but no date has been fixed.
The Security Council struggled to pass a statement on the deaths of the Austrian, Canadian, Chinese and Finnish peacekeepers as the United States blocked any condemnation of Israel.
"I think the whole unfortunate event that happened with the UN peacekeepers and the time it took the council to react has had a bit of a pall" on potential donors to the international force, said Annan. But he added: "I hope they all realise the urgency and the importance and they will be able to come forward with troops."
The UN Security Council plans next week to extend the mandate of the existing UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon for one month. UNIFIL, which has been in Lebanon for 28 years, has about 2,000 troops. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will return to the Middle East on Saturday to discuss a United Nations resolution to end the 17-day-old war between Israel and Hizbollah.
President George W. Bush told a Washington news conference on Friday, after talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, that an international force should be sent quickly to southern Lebanon to secure shipments of humanitarian aid.
Blair said a UN resolution was needed as soon as possible to end hostilities.
The two leaders met in Washington after a day that saw Israeli forces kill at least 17 people in Lebanon and Hizbollah launch new, longer-range missiles at Israel.
Rice had said she would return to the Middle East only when the time was right for a lasting solution to end the crisis. The war, which has caused at least 462 mostly civilian deaths in Lebanon, and 51 in Israel, erupted after Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a border raid on July 12.
Hizbollah fired scores of rockets into Israel, including at least one that the guerrilla group said was a new, longer-range missile, in a barrage that wounded 13 people, police said.
The longer-range rockets landed in open ground near the town of Afula, about 50 km from the Lebanese border. It matched the furthest that Hizbollah rockets had landed inside Israel since the conflict began.
UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Jan Egeland asked for a 72-hour pause in the fighting to enable relief workers to evacuate the elderly, the young and the wounded from southern Lebanon and to send in emergency aid supplies.