Security Council “Consensus” on International Tribunal
Key U.N. Security Council members have reportedly vowed not to politicize the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and agreed to ask countries for more funds to guarantee the operation of the court in the next three years.
An Nahar daily on Friday, quoting diplomatic sources, said the pledge was made by Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Belgium and Libya during a closed-door meeting.
U.N. Legal Counsel Patricia O”Brien briefed the Council during Thursday”s meeting on efforts to establish the international tribunal which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said is on track to begin its work on March 1, 2009.
The court will try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri”s suspected assassins.
Council members refused to make comments after the half-hour meeting. But the diplomatic sources told An Nahar that O”Brien briefed the conferees on Ban”s third report on the preparations for the tribunal and his last meeting with Lebanese Premier Fouad Saniora in Doha.
The sources stressed that there was "consensus" on four main points: Lauding the efforts of Ban and his legal council to set up the court, supporting the U.N. chief”s demand to extend the mandate of the commission investigating Hariri”s murder for two months, thanking all countries that made contributions and agreement to ask for more help to guarantee the court”s operations in the next three years and finally the conferees stressed that the tribunal should not be politicized.
Chief U.N. investigator Daniel Bellemare, who will become the tribunal”s general prosecutor in The Hague, is expected to brief the Council Dec. 16 on his last report on the Hariri crime and ask for an extension of his commission”s mandate until 28. Feb, 2009.
The panel”s current mandate ends on Dec. 31.