U.N. Defends Roed-Larsen Amid Syrian Accusations
The United Nations defended on Friday, Terje Roed-Larsen, the secretary-general”s special envoy for the implementation of resolution 1559, after Syria criticized his mandate.
"Roed-Larsen continues to carry out his work implementing that resolution," U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon”s spokesperson Michele Montas said during a press briefing.
Her comment came in response to an official Syrian letter to Ban accusing Roed-Larsen of "misinterpreting the logical framework of his mandate."
The letter also complained that expanding the envoy”s 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.
However, Montas noted that Roed-Larsen”s mandate derives not only from Resolution 1559 but also from subsequent related resolutions, including Resolutions 1680 and 1701.
Those resolutions, she said, provided a "roadmap" or benchmarks for securing Lebanon”s sovereignty and political independence.
Montas added that Ban had passed the Syrian letter on to the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly. She said that the Fifth Committee does not interpret the mandate of special political missions based on Security Council resolutions; rather, it is up to the Security Council to define the objectives of its resolutions.