U.N. Asks Belgian to Take Over Assassination Inquiry

By Colum Lynch
December 29, 2005
The Washington Post
Original Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/28/AR2005122801292.html

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 28 -- The United Nations has asked a Belgian prosecutor to take over its investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, according to a spokesman for the prosecutor and senior U.N. officials.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan wants Serge Brammertz, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, to succeed German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who will step down next month. Mehlis has led a six-month U.N. inquiry that has implicated members of Syrian President Bashar Assad's inner circle in the Feb. 14 killing of Hariri.
A U.N. spokeswoman, Marie Okabe, said that an announcement of the appointment will not be made until Jan. 11 but we can confirm the secretary general has completed the selection process. She said Annan is satisfied there will be continuity in the leadership of the inquiry.
Senior U.N. officials said that Annan is delaying a public announcement because Brammertz wants more time to assure governments that support the criminal court that his departure will not disrupt its war crimes investigations in Sudan, Congo and Uganda. They also expressed concern about Brammertz's safety.
Mehlis has received frequent death threats since taking control of the U.N. probe in May. A Lebanese newspaper, An-Nahar, reported Wednesday that a pro-Syrian organization that claimed responsibility for killing the paper's editor, Gibran Tueni, issued a new threat against Mehlis's successor. The group said Mehlis is lucky it has not killed him.
A spokesman for the International Criminal Court, Christian Palme, confirmed that Brammertz has been offered the post, but said that he is mulling the offer through holiday break with his family before deciding.
Bush administration officials reacted warmly to the news, saying that Brammertz has a reputation as a tough and thorough investigator. They said they have no objection to supporting a prosecutor recruited from the ICC, an institution the United States has long opposed.
John R. Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, declined to comment directly on Brammertz's selection. But he issued a statement Wednesday saying, We believe strongly that a clear signal of determination and continuity must be sent to Syria's leaders.
The transition comes at a sensitive juncture in the U.N. inquiry, which has issued two reports asserting there is probable cause that senior pro-Syrian Lebanese and Syrian officials plotted the Valentine's Day car bombing that killed Hariri and 20 others. The U.N. team is seeking an interview with Assad's brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat, the chief of Syria's intelligence service.
Syrian officials have adamantly denied Assad's government was involved in the killing. On Wednesday, Syria's foreign minister, Farouk Sharaa, said he will try to set new ground rules for cooperation with the investigators. We want to agree on a new protocol for cooperation, he told a gathering of ruling Baath Party politicians, according to Reuters. Mehlis rejected a similar request by Syria in November.
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