July 18, 2001

UN to probe allegations peacekeepers collaborated with Hezbollah; Israeli troops kidnapped on border

Steven Edwards National Post

UNITED NATIONS - Senior United Nations officials flew to the Middle East yesterday to probe allegations Indian peacekeepers in southern Lebanon helped Hezbollah guerrillas kidnap three Israeli soldiers last October.

The investigation is an extension of one ordered last week by Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, into why UN officials misled the Israeli government about the existence of a videotape thought to show the guerrillas who carried out the abduction.

Maariv, Israel's second largest newspaper, quoted an Indian UN peacekeeper Friday as saying four colleagues had collaborated with the kidnappers.

Dozens of Indian peacekeepers witnessed the abduction, which took place near a hilltop outpost manned by an Indian battalion, the newspaper reported.

In the months before the incident, Hezbollah had bribed the peacekeepers with cash, women and alcohol to turn a blind eye to the abduction, Maariv quoted the peacekeeper as saying.

The kidnappers are believed to have been dressed in UN uniforms and driving two vehicles bearing fake UN licence plates when they lured the three Israeli soldiers to the border fence.

Timour Goksel, a spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force, has strongly denied the charges.

"Any unproven allegations are a slander and an insult," he said. "It is very easy to cast doubt on people and doubt their integrity by merely accusing them of maybe this and maybe that."

No evidence has emerged to support the bribery allegations.

A senior Israeli official said yesterday it was unclear if there had been any collaboration between the Indians and Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran.

Israeli officials are reported to have interviewed members of last October's Indian contingent, who have been replaced by other Indian soldiers under normal rotation procedures.

The officials want to talk to an Indian soldier quoted by a Lebanese newspaper two days after the kidnapping, say sources cited by The Jerusalem Post. The soldier suggested one Indian peacekeeper had allowed the guerrillas to drive to the abduction site.

The UN investigation is headed by Joseph Connor, head of the Department of Management and one of Mr. Annan's most senior deputies. Mr. Annan originally wanted him to probe why the UN had told the Israelis it knew nothing of a 30-minute videotape shot by an Indian peacekeeper 18 hours after the abduction. This shows Hezbollah guerrillas preventing UN soldiers from towing the vehicles used by the kidnappers.

The UN still refuses to show Israel the tape unless the guerrillas' faces are blacked out, saying it needs to maintain its neutrality.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001