U.N.: Lebanon Has Not Approved Tribunal 

By Edith M. Lederer
January 18, 2007
The Guardian (UK)
Original Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6353795,00.html

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern Wednesday that Lebanon has not given final approval to an international tribunal to prosecute the suspected killers of its former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. 
The new U.N. chief said he planned to discuss the holdup with Lebanese leaders at an international donors conference in Paris on Jan. 25 to raise money for reconstruction in Lebanon following last summer's 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas. 
Ban, who took over from Kofi Annan on Jan. 1, told reporters Wednesday after returning from a two-day trip to Washington that he discussed the situation in Lebanon with President Bush. 
A draft agreement between the Lebanese government and the United Nations calls for the creation of a tribunal with a majority of international judges and an international prosecutor to prosecute those charged in Hariri's assassination in a location outside Lebanon. 
``It is a source of concern for me as secretary-general that we are not being able to conclude this and establish a special tribunal, as was mandated by the Security Council,'' Ban said. 
``At the same time, I was encouraged by the willingness of the Lebanese government to work together for the establishment of a special tribunal, including President (Emile) Lahoud and Speaker of the Parliament (Nabih) Berri,'' Ban said. 
Hariri was killed with 22 others in a suicide truck bombing in Beirut in February 2005. The assassination sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Syria denied involvement, but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year presence. 
A U.N. investigation into the assassination is still under way. The first U.N. chief investigator, Germany's Detlev Mehlis, said the killing's complexity suggested the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role in Hariri's assassination. Four Lebanese generals, top pro-Syrian security chiefs, have been under arrest for 16 months, accused of involvement in Hariri's murder. 
The current political crisis erupted in November when pro-Syrian Hezbollah, emboldened by its survival of the Israeli bombardment, sought to strengthen its political standing in the Cabinet led by anti-Syrian Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. 
Hezbollah demanded a national unity government that would give its supporters veto power on major decisions - including a tribunal - but Saniora's Cabinet dominated by anti-Syrian ministers refused to hand over power. 
That prompted the resignation of six pro-Syrian Cabinet members, which touched off massive protests and ongoing sit-ins in downtown Beirut by Hezbollah supporters demanding that Saniora resign, which he has refused to do. 
Meanwhile, Saniora's Cabinet and the U.N. Security Council approved the agreement to establish a tribunal in November. But Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud, a staunch ally of Syria, rejected it in early December saying the Cabinet had lost its constitutional legitimacy because of the Cabinet resignations. 
Lahoud's endorsement is not crucial, but the agreement requires final approval from Lebanon's Parliament. Its speaker, Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, has said he will not convene parliament until the current crisis in Lebanon is resolved.