Lebanon nervously awaits UN decision on Hariri tribunal By Weedah Hamzah

dpa German Press Agency Published: Wednesday May 30, 2007

By Weedah Hamzah,
Beirut- Lebanon was nervously awaiting Wednesday a UN
Security Council vote on the creation of an international court for
the 2005 murder of premier Rafik Hariri.
The decision by the UN comes as the country is witnessing high
tension with the army battling Islamist militants in northern
Lebanon. Political leaders are also greatly divided.

The political crisis was heightened after a deadly standoff
between the army and an al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militia and a spate
of bomb attacks in and around the capital Beirut since May 20.

Followers of the late Hariri gathered late Wednesday at his tomb
in downtown Beirut, where he is buried alongside his six bodyguards.

"We came here to pray only that justice will be paid at the UN in
a few hours and light candles," said a follower of Hariri's Future
Current movement.

The Western-backed cabinet of Prime Minister Foaud Seniora, who
was also a close friend of the late Hariri, has been pushing for the
formation of the court despite the opposition of the anti-Syrian
followers in the country, headed by the Hezbollah movement.

"We are happy to see justice is being made after all and we do not
fear any consequences," said anti-Syrian Telecommunication Minister
Marwan Hamadeh.

The political crisis in the country deepened when six pro-Syrian
ministers resigned from Seniora's government in November 2006 after
they called on Seniora to resign.

Hariri and 20 other people were killed in a massive bomb blast in
February 2005, widely blamed on neighbouring Syria, which was later
forced to end nearly 30 years of military and political domination of
its neighbour Lebanon.

The government has accused the pro-Syrian camp of trying to bloc
the formation of the court to protect their Syrian allies.

Lebanon's politics have since the Hariri assassination been
snarled up in a standoff between the pro-Western government and the
groups allied with Syria that have blocked Seniora's request for the
creation of a tribunal to try the Hariri case. The conflict has taken
on an increasingly sectarian tone and erupted into street battles,
killing 11 people in January 2007.

After an impasse over establishing a tribunal in Lebanon, Seniora
asked the UN Security Council earlier this month to act without
waiting for parliamentary approval. He cited the refusal of
parliament pro-Syrian speaker Nabih Berri to convene a session to
ratify statutes to create the tribunal that have already been
approved by his government and the United Nations.

The resolution would create a tribunal outside Lebanon with a
majority of international judges along with Lebanese judges and an
international prosecutor under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which
makes the measure unambiguously binding and allows enforcement,
including the possibility of military action.

According to a Lebanese government source, the tribunal is not
likely to be up and running until several months after the accord
enters into force.

An ongoing UN probe has implicated Lebanese and Syrian officers in
the assassination of Hariri.

Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose term has been renewed for
seven more years, has said that any Syrian found guilty of the Hariri
murder will be tried in Damascus.

Hariri's son, Saad, who is the head of the anti-Syrian
parliamentary majority, accused Syria of "trying to provoke people
and show that the creation of the tribunal would lead to grave
problems in Lebanon."

"The goal of the court is not to avenge a single person but to
protect Lebanon from the terrorist campaigns," Hariri said, appealing
for his supporters to remain calm and not to celebrate because the
country is already tense.

But the opposition, led by the Syrian- and Iranian-backed
Hezbollah, has vowed it will never accept the tribunal.

"Do not expect that we will recognise or accept this tribunal,"
warned Shiite Hezbollah MP Hussein Haj Hassan.

Lebanon's Damascus-backed President Emile Lahoud, who is backing
the opposition, proposed on Tuesday a six-member "cabinet of national
salvation" which would represent the main religious communities, as a
way of ending the political crisis in the country, the worst since
the 1975-1990 civil war ended.

But Saad Hariri said the timing raised "suspicions" and said such
a demand was an attempt to bloc the formation of the court.

Meanwhile, Russia warned that the Security Council resolution
authorizing an international tribunal to try those suspected of the
killing of Hariri could have serious repercussions.

The main sponsors - the U.S., Britain and France - scheduled a
vote Wednesday, anticipating the measure would pass despite Russia's
objections to language making it clearly binding and subject to
enforcement.

"There are still some differences of view but I believe there are
now sufficient votes in the council to move forward," US Ambassador
Zalmay Khalilzad, the current Security Council president, told
reporters Tuesday.

The Russians, Chinese and South Africans argue the Chapter 7
reference is unnecessary.

A revised text late Tuesday gave the Lebanese a June 10 deadline
to ratify the UN approved statutes. Otherwise, the resolution would
"enter into force" or take immediate effect.

To be adopted, the resolution needs at least nine "yes" votes in
the 15-member council and no veto by a permanent member - the US,
Russia, China, Britain and France, UN sources said.

UN sources ruled out a veto, but they do expect at least five
abstentions - Russia, China, Qatar, Indonesia and South Africa.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

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