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NATO not a priority for Mideast force - Germany
Reuters

BERLIN - Germany on Wednesday said it was opposed to deploying NATO’s reaction force as peacekeepers in south Lebanon and said it was sceptical about a role for the defence alliance as a whole in the region.

”If such an international stabilization force comes about ... Germany would rule out using the NATO Response Force,” government spokesman Thomas Steg told reporters, referring to the force due to be go fully operational in October.

“It is clearly unsuitable for this purpose.”

His comments came as foreign ministers met in Rome to discuss how to end the violence between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon and the possibility of dispatching an international peacekeeping force.

Germany has not ruled out contributing soldiers to an international force but Steg said the German cabinet did not favor NATO as being the vehicle for any such stabilization force.

French President Jacques Chirac also said earlier he did not favor a role for NATO in a peacekeeping force in the region.