UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, but recommended the mandate be modified in the future, the UN announced. By a unanimous vote, the 15 members of the council agreed to extend the mandate of the peacekeepers for six more months, until July 31, 2005. The peacekeeping force, formally known as the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, was established in 1978 following an escalation of armed clashes along the Lebanese-Israeli frontier.

The order establishing the force was unchanged by the council Friday, but it requested that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (news – web sites) undertake a review of the mandate and structure at the end of the present mandate.

The Lebanese government expressed their opposition this week to any change in the mandate.

Earlier this month, a French peacekeeper was killed by shrapnel from an Israeli round following a series of attacks and counter-attacks by Lebanese and Israeli forces.