BERLIN - Germany has postponed a decision about how it will contribute to the expanded UN force in Lebanon because Beirut has not yet made a formal request to the United Nations for German help, a government spokesman said on Sunday.

"Without such a request from Lebanon to the United Nations the Bundeswehr cannot participate," government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm told reporters.

"We can only send troops if the rules of engagement are clear and there is a stated willingness on the part of Lebanon, communicated to the United Nations." Wilhelm said Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has told Chancellor Angela Merkel that the matter was still being discussed in Beirut.

Merkel on Sunday said Berlin's offer of sending its navy to help patrol the Lebanese coast still stood but that the country wanted to follow the proper procedures for the sake of its soldiers.

"In this case it is better to do things properly than to proceed in a hurry," she said.

"No German government will take a risk that it not justified."

Berlin had been scheduled to receive an official request before 1000 GMT on Sunday and to announce the number of troops in plans to send to Lebanon later in the day.

A special cabinet sitting to finalise other details of the mission was scheduled for Monday, but has also been postponed.

Berlin has ruled out sending ground troops to Lebanon, but Germany is widely expected to assume the naval command of the bolstered UN force that must police a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and stop the flow of arms to the radical Shiite organisation.

The country is expected to contribute up to 3,000 sea and air troops.

Wilhelm said the other nations which are likely to help protect Lebanon's coast -- Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden -- were also waiting for the greenlight from Beirut.

He said Germany needed a request to the UN, a "robust mandate" from the world body and the approval of the lower house of parliament for the mission.

Merkel has insisted that the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) be given a stronger mandate than it has had so far so that it will be effective and its soldiers will be able to defend themselves.

She said in an interview broadcast on Sunday on ARD television that it would be pointless "simply to watch while the arms embargo was being breached without being able to act".

The Bundeswehr is currently involved in 10 foreign missions, including in Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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