Siniora thanks Ban for progress on Hariri tribunal
Ban confirms "March 1 Launch Date for International Tribunal"
Prime Minister Fouad Siniora met with UN chief Ban Ki-moon in Doha on Sunday to discuss recent developments on the Special Tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The talks took place on the sidelines of the International Conference on Financing for Development in the Qatari capital.
"I am extremely glad to announce that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is on the right track and will be launched on March 1, 2009," Ban told reporters after the meeting.
"I discussed the issue with Premier Siniora and I learned that the Lebanese side is pleased with that date … We agreed that the launching of the tribunal will be a step forward towards putting an end to unpunished crime," he said.
Ban added that the investigation team would be moving to The Hague in January 2009.
"This is an opportunity to thank the UN Security Council for its role in establishing the tribunal and stress that the council”s backing is extremely important for the tribunal to remain in a strong position," the secretary general said.
For his part, Siniora said he hoped the launching of the tribunal would help Lebanon become a country where crime will always be punished.
"I would like to thank the secretary general and all Security Council members for their efforts … I would also like to thank all the countries who made financial contributions to see the tribunal functioning," the premier said.
Siniora also told reporters that the Shebaa Farms and the border village of Ghajar were among the key issues that he discussed with the UN chief.
"We proved to the secretary general that Lebanon had just claims regarding both the Shebaa Farms and Ghajar," he said. "As far as the Shebaa Farms are concerned we all know that a demarcation of borders to determine the land”s ownership does not require the presence of technicians and experts in the Israeli-occupied territory … The demarcation can be done on maps."
Israel disputes Lebanon”s ownership of the territory and claims that it belongs to Syria. The Syrians refuse to engage in delineation on this particular part of the border in the presence of Israeli occupation.
As for Ghajar, Siniora noted that the Israelis have clearly violated UN Security Council Resolution 1701 by refusing to leave the Lebanese (northern) section of the village since the summer war of 2006.
Siniora also held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Doha.
Abbas thanked the premier for the Cabinet”s recent decision to establish diplomatic ties with Palestine.
Abbas also called on all Palestinian refugees currently living in Lebanon to respect the country”s laws.
Separately, Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader MP Michel Aoun, who spent 15 years in exile after a failed "war of liberation" against Syrian forces in Lebanon, is set to make an unprecedented visit to his one-time foe.
"This is an introductory visit to turn over a painful page in Lebanese history and look to the future," FPM MP Ibrahim Kanaan told AFP on Sunday.
He said the visit would probably take place this week.
Aoun, a former commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, was the head of an interim government when he was forced into exile after being defeated by a Syrian offensive in 1990 at the end of Lebanon”s 15-year Civil War.
He returned in May 2005, a month after Damascus ended a 29-year military presence in Lebanon in the aftermath of Hariri”s assassination. He then went on to form Lebanon”s single-largest bloc of Christian MPs in the elections that followed.
Aoun, 73, stunned many observers the following year when he entered into an alliance with the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hizbullah, a move that opponents say has caused his popularity to slip.
Syria and Lebanon launched diplomatic ties for the first time in October. Damascus was widely blamed for the killing but denies involvement.
Aoun”s visit to Damascus has already come under fire from the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.
"It”s natural for Aoun to choose to visit Syria as he belongs to a Syrian-Iranian alliance. The Syrian regime is the only beneficiary of this visit," Fares Soueid, a senior member of the anti-Syrian March 14 Forces, told AFP.
Aoun also caused a stir when he visited Iran in October and held talks with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
News reports on Sunday said that Aoun”s visit was likely to take place on Tuesday, when President Michel Sleiman is also due to visit Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Picture: U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks during a news conference ahead of Saturday”s UN Conference on Financing for Development, in Doha November 28, 2008. EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso called on Friday for a “human rescue” plan alongside financial rescue packages, as aid agencies rapped most other major world leaders for staying away from the UN summit on aid.
REUTERS/Osama Faisal (QATAR)