2006年VOA标准英语-Annan Says Lebanon, Darfur Need More UN Troops

（单词翻译）

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
18 July 2006

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, left, gestures as he adresses the media while standing¹ next to EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday July 18, 2006  
  
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says a possible U.N. stabilization² force for Lebanon should be larger and have a different mandate³ than current troops in the region.  Speaking in Brussels, Annan also urged the Sudanese government to accept a separate U.N. force for Darfur. 

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During a joint⁴ press conference with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said a bolstered⁵ U.N. force for Lebanon could stabilize⁶ the situation in southern Lebanon, where the Hezbollah militia⁷ is trading fire with Israel.

He has called for European and other governments to contribute troops to the force, which he says should be larger and better armed than the 2,000 U.N. soldiers currently in the region.

"The situation is very urgent, and it is imperative⁸ that the international community acts ... to end the fighting and killing⁹ that is going on, and acts to find some long-term stability in that region," Annan said.

Several European countries have expressed support for such a U.N. force, but the United States and Israel remain skeptical¹⁰ about the idea.  Washington questions how more U.N. troops would be able to restrain Hezbollah.  And some analysts¹¹ suggest the force would hinder Israel's stated goal to break the militia group's control in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah continues to fire rockets into northern Israel and Israeli bombs hit a Lebanese army base outside Beirut and destroyed a house near the border, killing 16 people.  About 250 people have died during the past week of clashes, most of them in Lebanon. 

Annan's talks in Brussels are also aimed at securing stability in another conflict-torn region: Darfur, in Sudan.  The United Nations has been pressing the Sudanese government to accept a U.N. peacekeeping mission to take over for an underequipped African Union force.

Annan said he was still hopeful Sudanese authorities might eventually endorse¹³ a U.N. force.

"We are quite advanced with our planning and eventual¹² deployment¹⁴ to Darfur," he said. "And we are also engaged in very serious discussions with the Sudanese authorities - asking them to cooperate with the deployment of the force." 

U.N., European, Sudanese and U.S. officials are meeting in Brussels to discuss ways to finance the African Union force for a few more months before a hoped-for transition to a U.N. peacekeeping mission takes place.  But Monday, Sudan's Foreign Minister Lam Akol again rejected the idea of U.N. troops in Darfur.