UN ceasefire resolution 'within days'

After a day of intense negotiations, the US and France have “come a long way” in negotiating a UN Security Council resolution that calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, US Ambassador John Bolton said, as diplomats promised a deal on a resolution in days.

In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed support yesterday for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon as the first phase in ending the conflict. It was the most concrete signal yet that the US may be willing to compromise on the stalemate over how to end the fighting.

On CNN’s “Larry King Live", Rice said the US is moving ”towards being able to do this in phases that will permit first an end or a stoppage in the hostilities and based on the establishment on some very important principles for how we move forward,” according to a partial transcript of the show being aired Thursday night.

Almost since the outbreak of the fighting on July 12, the Bush administration has insisted that a cease-fire and steps aimed at creating a long-term peace be worked out simultaneously. These included establishing an international peacekeeping force and requiring the disarmament of the Hezbollah militant group.

Moving closer to the position that France and other European countries are taking, Rice predicted that a UN Security Council resolution would be approved within days that would include a cease-fire and describe principles for a lasting peace.

“We’re certainly getting close,” she said. “We’re working with the French very closely. We’re working with others.”

Still, it was difficult to say just how much Rice’s comments indicated a softening of the American position – or just a rephrasing of it.

Rice’s comments came after France, which has led efforts for a diplomatic solution and could lead an international force to help stabilise southern Lebanon, circulated a revised draft of the resolution to all council members on Wednesday night.

It would be the first of two resolutions aimed at achieving a permanent cease-fire and long-term solution to the conflict.

France’s UN Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere had sounded a note of pessimism early Thursday, but after a 3 1/2-hour US-French meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss the draft, US Ambassador John Bolton said the two sides had “come a long way.”

“What we’ve tried to do is reach agreement on as much as possible but … now Washington and Paris have to take a look,” he said. “We thought we made a good bit of progress and we’ll see overnight.”

The French mission to the UN refused to comment on the latest discussions.

Other officials including British Prime Minister Tony Blair said they hoped for a deal within days – though they backed off their original prediction of having it done by the end of the week. Blair echoed Rice when he said he hoped a resolution would outline a framework to prevent a repetition of the conflict.

He said in London that this would be part of a two-phase plan that would be followed by negotiations on an international stabilisation force and its mandate, which would require a second resolution.