Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdallah Bou Habib met UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday to explain Lebanon’s reservations on the draft resolution for extending the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon which will be voted at the Security Council at the end of August.
Bou Habib, who is currently leading a Lebanese delegation to the UN, is seeking to restrict UNIFIL’s freedom of movement in its area of operations by requiring prior coordination with the Lebanese army.
Article 16 of resolution 2560, introduced last year, allows the UN force to carry out its mission in South Lebanon “without prior authorization” and “independently” of the Lebanese army.
Bou Habib also encountered the permanent representatives of Ghana, Gabon and Mozambique as non-permanent members of the Security Council, in the presence of a representative of the African Union.
He later conferred with the UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, on the issue of war-displaced Syrians, as Lebanon is the country hosting the highest number of refugees per capita.
