Security Council Reviews Plan for Hariri Assassination Tribunal
20 November 2006
U.S. envoy Bolton says next step is up to Lebanon
United Nations – Provisions to allow an international tribunal to hear cases arising from the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri are acceptable to the majority of Security Council members, U.S. and other diplomats said November 20.
After a private council meeting, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the U.N. Security Council is ready to approve two documents -- the draft agreement and draft statutes negotiated between the United Nations and Lebanon. The next step will be for the United Nations to return the two documents to Lebanon for the government to decide whether to sign them formally.
The United States is "hoping that will be the case, because our function is to approve the agreement and see then if the government of Lebanon, in its turn, approves it," Bolton said.
The Lebanese Cabinet approved the draft in principle November 13, but only after all five Shiite ministers and one Christian minister resigned over a power-sharing dispute. With the unanimous vote of the 18 remaining Cabinet members, the government had more than the necessary two-thirds approval to accept the draft, but pro-Syrian forces maintain that the government acted without authority in the absence of any Shiite representation. The Lebanese government must now decide whether to grant final approval to the draft.
Chief U.N. legal counsel Nicolas Michel briefed the council on the results of discussions between the United Nations and Lebanon to establish a special tribunal for cases arising from the current international investigation into the 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and several others. (See related article.)
Michel discussed the structure of the tribunal which will include a pre-trial judge, a trial chamber, an appeals chamber, prosecutor, registry and defense office.
The U.N. commission investigating the assassination announced September 25 that it was close to having enough evidence to proceed to trial. (See related article.)
Security Council President Ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales of Peru is drafting a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan indicating the council's approval and giving him authority to finish the agreement with Lebanon.
Bolton stressed that it then will be up to Lebanon to decide whether the documents meet its constitutional requirements and what the procedures will be for the government's acceptance.
The negotiators for Lebanon were "very senior juridical figures within Lebanon" and appointed by the government. The Lebanese Cabinet also reviewed the documents, Bolton said. "That's the reason it gives us some confidence that this agreement meets the necessary tests under applicable Lebanese law."
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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