France, which announced on Thursday it would contribute a total of 2,000 troops to the enlarged UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), was waiting for its European partners' commitment to the force, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on Friday.

Douste-Blazy told RTL radio that French President Jacques Chirac had cleared up the misunderstanding by Thursday's announcement, which was a significant effort.

"I'm waiting now for our European partners to say how many (troops) they will send," he said.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, unanimously adopted on Aug. 11, gives a mandate for the UNIFIL, which is now under French command, to be expanded from its current level of 2,000 troops to 15,000.

The minister added that Italy had already pledged to send between 2,000 and 3,000 soldiers, and that Spain was prepared to commit a battalion of between 800 and 1,000 troops.

At a meeting in Brussels on Friday, EU foreign ministers would discuss whether other members of the 25-nation bloc would contribute troops, he said.

Concerning the UNIFIL's command, which Italy has indicated it would be ready to take, Douste-Blazy said: "We will [continue to] have the command, this has been already clarified, until February 2007. Then it will be up to the United Nations to say who will continue the job."

Source: Xinhua