Annan to press Mideast leaders on reaching peace in Lebanon

GENEVA — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan starts an 11-day tour of the Middle East Monday to press for support of the Security Council resolution that ended the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and set a path for securing the independence of Lebanon. It is likely to be the last major diplomatic journey of his 10 years in office.

The trip will take Annan, whose second five-year term ends Dec. 31, to Lebanon, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Jordan, Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar, the Arab representative on the Security Council.

He has meetings scheduled with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and President Bashar Assad of Syria, both of whom are shunned by the United States because of their roles in financing and equipping Hezbollah. While he has no plans to see the leaders of Hezbollah, he will attend a meeting in Beirut of the Lebanese cabinet, which includes two ministers from Hezbollah.

Asked if the United States had raised any objections to these contacts, Ahmad Fawzi, a spokesman, said that Annan had spoken Sunday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "He hasn't told me of any objections," Fawzi said.

It is widely acknowledged that the Lebanese government and army will be unable to accomplish a major goal of the resolution, disarming Hezbollah, without the cooperation of Syria and Iran.

The United Nations, for security reasons, would not confirm the dates of Annan's arrival in each country, but the Iranian government has disclosed that he is due in Tehran on Sept. 2. That is two days after Iran must respond to a demand by the Security Council that it end uranium enrichment activities or face the possibility of sanctions.

Another contentious matter Annan will face in Lebanon is whether to station U.N. troops along the border with Syria to enforce the resolution's call for an embargo on illegal arms shipments. Assad has denounced the prospect, saying he will close the border entirely if foreign soldiers are posted there.

Annan's position is that U.N. forces will go there if the government of Lebanon requests it. Asked if Annan would seek that outcome, Fawzi said, "The secretary general is going to be saying, 'Tell me what you need and the U.N. will assist you in whatever way we can."'

The resolution set up a buffer zone between the Israeli border and the Litani River, an area long controlled by Hezbollah, which a 15,000-man Lebanese Army force and an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force of similar size will be responsible for securing.