Malaysia, the current chair of the world's biggest Muslim grouping, will continue pressing the UN to declare an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said.

Abdullah also confirmed that Malaysia will send a battalion of 1,000 soldiers to join a future multinational peacekeeping force under United Nations control.

The premier said the UN should do everything possible to ensure a ceasefire is enforced in Lebanon soon, Bernama reported.

"We will continue to demand... we will increase the number of our allies to continue pressing the UN leaders to use whatever means they have so that a ceasefire in Lebanon can be enforced immediately," he said.

Abdullah said the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference had a clear stand on the issue and would not "sit still" while Israel continued its military offensive in Lebanon.

At an emergency meeting here last week, OIC member nations made a joint call for Israel to withdraw immediately from Lebanon.

Peacekeeping force

Military chiefs from Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei said in Jakarta yesterday that they were willing to send about 2,000 personnel to a UN peacekeeping force for Lebanon.

However UN officials remain reluctant to talk about peacekeeping in Lebanon until the Security Council has decided how to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which have left more than 1,000 dead in the past four weeks.

Last week Israel demanded a force of at least 15,000 soldiers that can keep Hezbollah fighters away from positions where they can attack Israel.

Lebanon countered with a plan to deploy 15,000 of its own troops which it says reduces the need for anything other than a strengthened version of the current UN Interim Force in Lebanon.