BERLIN/ISTANBUL, 29 February 2008 — Commodore Christian Luther looks back with satisfaction at Germany’s role in the UN naval mission patrolling the coast of Lebanon for the past 17 months. The deployment has been a success, Israel feels more secure and the Lebanese Navy is grateful, says the outgoing commander of the multinational UNIFIL task force.
As far as Luther is concerned, the military has accomplished its task, but the politicians haven’t. In Lebanon, “the political class” has failed to bring peace to the country, he said. On Friday, Germany hands over command of the UNIFIL mission to Italy, which heads a joint European maritime force with France, Spain and Portugal.
For Luther, there is no telling when the deployment will end. If the situation at sea continues to stabilize and the Lebanese Navy is better trained and equipped, it could end in two to three years. But if this is not the case, it could go on for decades.
Luther points out that UNIFIL’s first mandate was conceived to last only six months — that was 30 years ago on March 19, 1978. “I sincerely hope the UNIFIL mission does not last for another 30 years,” he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Germans have been questioning the purpose of the mission, which was created to stop illegal arms supplies reaching Lebanon after the end of the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon conflict. Questions have also been raised about the necessity of the force in view of restrictions, which prevent it operating near the coast without prior permission from the government in Beirut.
“You don’t scrap the fire brigade just because nothing is burning,” Luther says in defense of the operation. “There is always a Lebanese naval officer on board the mission’s lead ship and there was never a problem monitoring suspicious vessels,” he said.
The Lebanese only took real notice of the German ships on two occasions during the past 17 months, once when Israeli jets buzzed the vessels shortly after the start of the mission. The other time was when the navy rescued the crew of a Lebanese freighter that got into difficulties in a storm.
After Germany hands over command of the mission on Friday, it will reduce its naval presence from seven ships to four and the number of sailors from 650 to 500.
There has been much speculation in recent months whether the UNIFIL task force has contributed toward strengthening Lebanon’s sovereignty or stopping arms supplies to Hezbollah.
Since it started the force has asked more than 13,000 ships to identify themselves and searched 70 vessels in Lebanese ports, without finding any engaged in smuggling. Luther attributes this to the “deterrent effect” of the task force.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s presidential vacuum has entered its fourth month with no resolution in sight and growing fears that a deepening sectarian rift could stoke civil strife.
Arab leaders have stepped up efforts to bridge the divide between the Western-backed ruling coalition and the opposition supported by Syria and Iran but analysts said they do not hold out much hope of a deal ahead of an Arab summit next month.
Recent street clashes between supporters of rival factions have further raised tensions and prompted several Gulf nations and Western states to advise their citizens against traveling to Lebanon.
