DEIR EL-AASHAYER, Lebanon - A team of UN inspectors on Thursday visited a Syrian army position which some say is in Lebanon but declined to comment on the area's unclear border demarcation.
"We met and had discussions with fellow officers. It was a warm meeting and they offered us a delicious breakfast," said Brigadier General Elhadji Mouhamadou Kandji, deputy military advisor for UN peacekeeping operations.
"I cannot talk about the borders because it is not part of my mission," said the Senegalese officer, head of a three-man UN team in Lebanon to verify a Syrian troop withdrawal which Damascus said it completed April 26.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nagib Miqati told French newspaper Le Monde on Monday that Syrian troops were still deployed in Deir el-Aashayer and that the location was inside Lebanese territory.
However, the following day Miqati's office issued a statement saying that a preliminary investigation showed that the soldiers were deployed on Syrian not Lebanese land.
Residents of Deir el-Aashayer said this week they believed the Syrian soldiers were deployed on Lebanese land but agreed that the border in the area is poorly demarcated.
Kandji told reporters Wednesday he was satisfied with his mission so far.
"We have verified many positions and I can assure you that we have not encountered a single Syrian. I am satisfied," he said during a tour to inspect positions in eastern Lebanon.
The UN team has verified dozens of former Syrian army position in northern Lebanon, Tripoli, Beirut and around the eastern Bekaa Valley.
They expect their mission to last more than a week and will report back to Annan.
05/05/2005 13:14 GMT