Irish troops serving with the United Nations at Camp Ida in southern Lebanon received a flying visit yesterday from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, as part of his mission to the Middle East, writes Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent in South Lebanon
Following talks earlier in Beirut with Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora for discussions on the political and security situation there, there was a relaxing interlude at the Irish base where the soldiers produced a cake with candles and sang "Happy birthday, dear Minister." Mr Ahern was 52 yesterday.
The Irish contingent is serving alongside a party of Finnish soldiers as part of the UN effort to pacify the region in the aftermath of last summer's Israeli-Lebanese war.
The bleak hills and stony soil are not all that foreign to Irish eyes and commanding officer Lieut Col Billy Harrington said that "it looks like Connemara".
Capt John Anderson from Letterkenny, Co Donegal, is on his second overseas posting, having soldiered for the UN last year in Kosovo. The conflict in Lebanon is much more recent, however, and Capt Anderson said that it was "a bit more raw".
Despite the chill winds blowing around the Lebanese hills yesterday, Capt Anderson said the winter was so mild by comparison with its Irish equivalent that "last week, we had a volleyball tournament in 15 degrees - it was like an Irish summer's day." It's a tense time in Lebanon given the recent disturbances in Beirut.
"The Lebanon is always a volatile environment, as events in Beirut showed, so we have to be wary of the threat all the time," Capt Anderson said.
Another Donegal man, Comdt Colum McDaid, said the Army's previous experience of serving in Lebanon was coming in useful. "This particular mission is different because we are operating in support of a Finnish company which is building this camp and other engineering works."
A major task facing the 205 Finns and 157 Irish soldiers - from the 34th Infantry Group - is clearing up battle debris, particularly cluster bombs. These insidious weapons are a special danger to children, who could be deceived into thinking they were toys. Mr Ahern has called for an outright ban on cluster bombs by the international community.