Germany plans to send experts to detect Gaza tunnels

Jan 19, 2009, 16:09 GMT

Berlin - Germany is at the ready to send four border police experts to Egypt with equipment to detect secret tunnels under the border to the Gaza Strip, a senior official said in Berlin on Monday.

Israel's invasion of Gaza was aimed at stopping a bombardment by rockets which are mainly smuggled into Gaza via the tunnels.

August Hanning, a state secretary at the Interior Ministry, said Egypt had asked for the detection equipment and technical skills.

The team would comprise two technicians and two border monitoring specialists, and would probably be accompanied by a Foreign Office official. Together with Egyptian counterparts, they would do a survey of the tunnels.

It had been agreed with Egypt that the assistance would be ready to go whenever Cairo gave the word.

'We are ready to send our delegation to Egypt at a moment's notice,' Hanning said.

In a related development, a newspaper reported German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier forwarded a proposal Monday to key parties for a five-phase plan to ensure the violence does not resume.

Steinmeier has paid two visits to the region since the crisis erupted.

The European Union would be active in all five stages, beginning with humanitarian aid, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said.

The donors would pay for medicine, food, emergency shelter and fuel for poor Gazans. The next step would be to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza, with the German experts playing a key role.

Further stages would be re-opening border crossings, reconstructing wrecked parts of Gaza and proceeding to a resumption of the full peace process.

Germany has taken the diplomatic initiative before the administration of Barack Obama takes office in Washington.

The newspaper said the plan had been checked in advance with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg. Prague is currently exercising the EU presidency, but has not objected to Germany moving to centre stage.

The newspaper said Steinmeier aimed to help the Palestinian Authority regain influence in Gaza from Hamas. The Authority would play a key role in an international conference of donors.