U.S., UK, France distribute U.N. draft on Lebanon court

By Evelyn Leopold
May 18, 2007
The Washington Post
Original Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/18/AR2007051800465.html

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States, France and Britain circulated a U.N. resolution on Thursday that would unilaterally establish a tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 murder of a former Lebanese premier and 22 others.
The draft resolution, distributed to the U.N. Security Council, asks the 15 members to approve an earlier agreement of draft statutes for the court that the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora signed in November 2006.
Siniora on Monday asked the Security Council to help break the political impasse in Beirut over the creation of the court by adopting a binding resolution.
But he is opposed by Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, who warned on Tuesday that the tribunal's creation could lead to violence in Lebanon, which is undergoing its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Rafik al-Hariri, a former prime minister, and 22 others were assassinated in a bombing in Beirut on February 14, 2005, the first in a series of killings of anti-Syrian figures. Syria has denied involvement and its Lebanese allies oppose the tribunal in its current form.
France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said the measure was aimed at helping the Lebanese find a way out of the current dead end.
He said he hoped the resolution would be adopted by the end of the month. The measure invokes Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which would make the creation of the court mandatory.
The five permanent council members with veto power -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- met on Thursday to discuss the resolution.
Russia, an ally of Syria, has not made its position clear but other participants at the meeting said they did not anticipate a veto.
The draft resolution, obtained by Reuters, says the location of such a court would have to be determined at a later date in consultation with Lebanon and subject to another agreement with the United Nations and whichever state hosts the tribunal.
The United Nations had hoped Lebanon would agree on a law establishing the court. But Nabih Berri, the opposition parliamentary speaker, has refused to call a session to ratify the tribunal, even though most legislators support the court.
Lahoud and other opposition leaders who back the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah say Siniora's government lacks legitimacy. They resigned en masse in November to protest Siniora's refusal to grant them greater power.
Asked if the creation of a tribunal would destabilize Lebanon, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said earlier in the week, We understand that there are some risks, some say, with regard to taking action, but we believe that the risks of not taking action are greater.