UN chief to discuss timing of Hariri tribunal with Lebanese authorities
Ban 'working to obtain more contributions' to finance court

September 13, 2008 
Daily Star
Original Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=95977
BEIRUT: UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in comments published Friday that he would discuss with Lebanese authorities the timing of the start of operations of the international tribunal that will try former Premier Rafik Hariri's suspected assassins. Ban told An-Nahar daily's correspondent in New York that he has given instructions to UN personnel to continue administrative preparations to officially start the work of the tribunal. 
He said he was working on obtaining more contributions to finance the tribunal, though there was currently enough money for the first 12 months of the court's operations. 
Ban also said the UN was concerned about alleged illegitimate arms smuggling across the Syrian-Lebanese border. 
We are trying to implement Resolution 1701, he added. 
He vowed to help in efforts aimed at fortifying the border, saying he had asked Syrian President Bashar Assad during his visit to Damascus to upgrade border control systems. 
In August, the Lebanon Independent Border Assessment Team said in a report that progress in fortifying Lebanon's border with Syria has been minimal. 
The four-member team was dispatched by the UN chief to examine progress made in enhancing border management and security as called for in Resolution 1701, which ended the summer 2006 war with Israel. 
About the indirect Syrian-Israeli peace talks brokered by Turkey, Ban told An-Nahar that he hoped the negotiations would help reduce security threats in Lebanon. 
He welcomed all efforts to reconcile bickering sides in Lebanon, saying security and stability in the country were very important. 
In an interview in August, registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Robin Vincent said preparations at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon were proceeding as if the prosecutor would take office and the tribunal would begin functioning on January 1 next year, even though the UN official managing the tribunal said he did not have any information about when Ban would officially inaugurate the court.  
The mandate of the UN commission investigating the assassination of Hariri and other political violence here expires on December 31, and the politically explosive issue of the tribunal has lately revolved around when chief investigator Daniel Bellemare will take office as the court's first prosecutor and submit indictments to pre-trial judges. 
I'm having to plan to be in a position to support [a functioning tribunal] from January 1, Vincent said. 
Vincent and his staff of 10 moved in July from the UN headquarters in New York into the former Dutch intelligence building in The Hague which will house the court, he added. But by the end of the year, Vincent should have hired most of the roughly 180 nonjudicial personnel who will be responsible for the tribunal's security, witness-protection program, accounting, public relations and human resources, he said. 
Vincent plans to complete the construction of the courtroom by next June, and speeding up the establishment of the tribunal would present a challenge, he said.
Renovations to the structure in The Hague should cost about $13 million, and in addition to that the UN has long estimated the tribunal's first year of operations would cost about $35 million. - The Daily Star