Siniora meets Bellemare to discuss Special Tribunal
Hariri: “Prevent attempts to suffocate Beirut”
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora held talks on Tuesday at the Grand Serail with the head of the international investigative commission, Canadian prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, to discuss preparations for the launch of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on March 1. Well-informed sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) on Monday that the investigative commission was "able to reach enough information" concerning the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The sources said the launch of the tribunal was "now a reality."
"Obstructing or delaying the work of the tribunal is now impossible," the sources told CNA.
The sources added that Bellemare had urged Siniora not to implicate the international investigative commission, "in the everyday bickering of Lebanese political life."
In other developments, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh held talks on Tuesday with Irish counterpart Michael Martin, who is on a visit to Beirut.
Martin described the establishment of Lebanese-Syrian diplomatic ties as a "positive step." He told reporters that his visit to the region "aims to survey the means by which my country can contribute to solving the big issues here."
Martin had earlier met with President Michel Sleiman, Siniora, and the commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major General Claudio Graziano.
In other news, Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri urged student representatives on Tuesday to stay away from fanatic political and religious ideologies and reiterated calls to citizens to turn out heavily at a rally marking the fourth anniversary of his father”s assassination "to prevent attempts to suffocate Beirut." The rally is scheduled for Saturday.
"You stood fast during the hard times in the past couple of years and since the assassination of [former] Prime Minister Hariri," he said.
"On February 14, we will gather together in Martyrs Square … to say we would not allow them to suffocate Beirut, the city for which Rafik Hariri was [assassinated]," he added.
Responding to a Future Movement statement issued one day earlier, Former Prime Minister Omar Karami said Tuesday he had not been informed that weapons were being distributed in the north. The Future Movement accused March 8 leaders on Monday of overseeing the provision of arms in parts of the country.
The Future Movement accused the March 8 groups of distributing "weapons to their partisans and supporters in the Bekaa and northern regions to influence the electoral process."
In a statement released after a meeting in Qoreitem on Monday, the bloc said the alleged distribution of arms was "a serious indication of an attempt to intimidate citizens and suppress their right to freely elect representatives of Parliament."
Karami, in turn, said the March 14 Forces were spreading such rumors "to obstruct the upcoming parliamentary elections because of fear of failure."
Meanwhile, Democratic Gathering MP Marwan Hamadeh expressed surprise that Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun had "turned into a staunch defender of Syria."
On Monday, Aoun said any politicians working on complicating Lebanese-Syrian ties "should be arrested and tried."
Aoun also said the FPM "will cut the hand and tongue of anyone who dares attack us."
Following a meeting with Siniora at the Grand Serail on Monday, Hamadeh said he hoped Aoun "is not a messenger, who carries [Syrian] arrest warrants," adding that such warrants had been issued in the past against his bloc leader, MP Walid Jumblatt, and other Lebanese political figures.
"Neither our tongues nor our hands could be easily cut," he said, adding that the FPM leader should know better than to address the Lebanese in an "angry and authoritative tone."
Separately, Hizbullah said Tuesday that the FPM leader tops its priorities in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.
"Our battle is that of Aoun," said Hizbullah MP Ali Ammar.
Ammar, addressing a rally in the Mount Lebanon town of Qmatiyeh, said Aoun "is being targeted by a multi-front war just because he is committed to a national strategy."
He was apparently referring to the Memorandum of Understanding between Aoun”s FPM and Hizbullah.
The elections, scheduled for June 7, are "decisive and Hizbullah is competing to win the majority that can safeguard Lebanon and its civil peace," Ammar said.