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Indian to command UN interim force in Lebanon

A highly decorated senior military official from India has been appointed the new force commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

The appointment of Gen Lalit Mohan Tewari was made official following an exchange of letters between Annan and the president of the Security Council, the spokesman Fred Eckhart said.

The previous commander, Gen Seth Kofi Obeng of Ghana, relinquished his post on May 15 and since then his deputy, Gen Ganesan Athamanathan, has been the acting force commander.

At present, the commander of the Higher Command Wing at the College of Combat, Gen Tewari served in the early '90s as the chief of the observer group in Costa Rica within the UN Observer Group in Central America.

Tewari, who joined the military in 1966, has held several staff appointments up to the division level and at military headquarters.

He holds a Master of Science degree in defense studies and has been decorated with the prestigious Sena medal for gallantry and the distinguished Vishisht Seva medal.

Meanwhile, an Israeli delegation that visited the United Nations on Tuesday morning raised procedural questions about viewing videotapes and related items that could shed light on the condition of the three Israeli soldiers abducted on the Israeli-Lebanese border last October.

The UN had defined the modalities of the viewing in a letter to the Israeli Ambassador on Monday, spokesman Fred Eckhard said, but the Israeli delegation had questions about those procedures, 'and we said we would meet with them later today to see if we could sort it out'.

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