LEBANON: DANISH CONTRIBUTION TO UNIFIL

C O N F I D E N T I A L COPENHAGEN 001094 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2016 TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS UN LE DA SUBJECT: LEBANON: DANISH CONTRIBUTION TO UNIFIL REF: A. STATE 134133 ¶B. COPENHAGEN 1074 Classified By: Pol/Econ Counselor Bill Mozdzierz, reasons 1.4b,d ¶1. (C) Denmark fully supports our view that new UNIFIL contributions must be deployed as quickly as possible, Danish MFA Head of Department for Middle East and Latin America Tomas Anker Christensen confirmed August 16, in response to ref (A) demarche. Christensen noted with alarm recent suggestions from French officials that it could take up to a year for UNIFIL to reach its full strngth of 15,000 troops, arguing that such a delibrate pace would only embolden Hezbollah further.As it is, Christensen observed, Lebanese forces emain reluctant to move south of the Litani (while taking note of our and French engagement to help ake that happen) and the prospects for disarmingHezbollah appear to be poor. ¶2. (C) The Danish government has not yet taken a formal decision on its proposed UNIFIL contribution, although Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller has mentioned publicly his and Defense Minister Gade's agreement to send naval forces (Ref B),even identifying by name the Danish corvette to be sent in that case. Christensen explained that the Danish offer is complicated somewhat by other military commitments (the Danish navy plans to send a corvette to the Horn of Africa as part of CTF-150) and by the virtual armada of ships being offered to UNIFIL by other nations (other Nordic governments, Germany and the UK). The Danish maritime contribution could end up as part of a rotation, depending on other participants and UNIFIL's as-yet-unidentified requirements. ¶3. (C) Christensen used our discussion to assure us that the Finnish EU presidency had been freelancing when it suggested last week that the European Union might somehow get involved in direct negotiations with Hezbollah. The Danes "totally and fully" disagree with that idea, he said, adding that many others in the EU had also objected strongly (Christensen reported that French FM Douste-Blazy told Moeller in New York that he had called his Finnish counterpart to register his fierce disapproval). CAIN