On a recent visit to the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, UNIFIL’s Head of Mission and Force Commander Major-General Michael Beary met with the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and other senior figures in the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations. He also had separate high level meetings with Permanent Representatives to the UN of Lebanon and Israel.

While in New York Major-General Beary was interviewed by UN radio. In commenting on his previous peacekeeping tours the new head of the peacekeeping mission in south Lebanon said, “I have some experience in Lebanon, having served initially in 1982 during the [Israeli] invasion of that year and also in 1989, at the time of the formation of the Taif Accord, and then finally my last deployment was in 1994. Now, the area has moved considerably from that period under the UN Security Council Resolutions 425 and 426, the original resolutions. There has been a major addition with UNSCR 1701. And the area has changed considerably under that. There is a much improved environment that brings great hope for the local population and you can actually see that on the ground, because you have the manifestation now of a better economy, and there is more life.”

He also commented on the task ahead. “We do want to move in time to a permanent ceasefire. So that must be the real challenge; it may take some time to get there, but we have to keep trying to get there and building the confidence between the parties to achieve that outcome.” He also added, “The utmost priority for me at this point is to ensure that conflict doesn’t flare up, for whatever reason, by either party. Another major priority must be to ensure we develop the capability of the Lebanese Armed Forces, to extend remit right down into the sovereign state into southern Lebanon, right up to the Line of Withdrawal. So building Lebanese capability is an important priority for me also.”

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Article: Aoibheann O'Sullivan
Video Editor: Aoibheann O'Sullivan
Video Camera: UNDPI New York
Photo: Alban Mendes de Leon, Rick Bajornas
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