Report on Lebanon videotape to go to Security Council on Friday

The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has completed his review of a report concerning the UN's handling of a videotape that may relate to last year's kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah, his spokesman said today.

The report by Joseph Connor, UN Under-Secretary-General for Management, was submitted to the Secretary-General earlier in the week. The videotape was taken by peacekeepers the day after three Israeli soldiers had been abducted on the Israel-Lebanon border last October.

The Secretary-General has asked Mr. Connor to brief the Security Council tomorrow morning and the press immediately afterwards, spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General today described the overall situation in the Middle East as "very worrying" and said joint efforts were needed to ease tensions. Responding to questions from the press after he left a meeting of the Security Council, Mr. Annan said that "the international community really needs to come together and figure out some action that it can take to calm the situation before it gets completely out of hand."

"I'm going to keep my contacts with the other players to see what collective action can be taken to calm the situation," he said.