Report: Syria Urges Ban to Stop Roed-Larsen”s Meddling in Syrian-Lebanese Ties
Syria has asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to prevent his special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen from interfering in Damascus” relations with Lebanon and stick to his mandate, al-Akhbar newspaper reported Friday.
The daily said that Syria”s ambassador to the U.N. Bashar al-Jaafari delivered an official letter to Ban accusing his special envoy for the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559 of "misinterpreting the logical framework of his mandate."
Furthermore, the letter objected to expanding Roed-Larsen”s mandate to include implementation of some articles of resolutions 1701 and 1680.
Al-Jaafari complained that expanding the mandate to include some articles of resolution 1701 would lead to duplicity because another envoy is tasked with implementing the resolution that ended the Israel-Hizbullah war in 2006.
About Syrian-Lebanese relations, the letter said: "The establishment of diplomatic ties and demarcation of the border between Syria and Lebanon are issues linked to the sovereignty of countries and are solved through agreement between the Syrian and Lebanese governments."
It said Resolution 1680 does not call for any help by the U.N. general-secretariat to help in efforts to improve Lebanese-Syrian ties.
The 2006 resolution strongly encourages Syria to respond positively to the request made by Lebanon to delineate their common border and establish full diplomatic relations, as such measures would be a significant step towards asserting Lebanon”s sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence.
The letter, according to al-Akhbar, also accused Roed-Larsen of disregarding Israel”s continued violations of Lebanese airspace and occupation of parts of southern Lebanon, in violation of resolution 1559 which calls upon Lebanon to establish its sovereignty over all of its territory and urges "foreign forces" to withdraw from Lebanon.
Al-Jaafari said in his letter that Syria has implemented all articles of resolution 1559, by withdrawing its armed forces and security apparatuses from Lebanon in April 2005.
"The continued (efforts) to hurl the name of the Syrian Arab Republic in unacceptable explanations … hurts the neutrality of international employees tasked with implementing resolution 1559," he added.