Posted on 05/30/2007 1:10:53 PM PDT by HAL9000
The U.N. Security Council voted Wednesday to set up the international tribunal that would try ex-premier Rafik Hariri’s suspected assassins.The 15-member council adopted a legally binding resolution that sets June 10 as the date for the entry into force of an agreement between the U.N. and Premier Fouad Saniora’s government to establish the court.
Ten countries voted in favor, with veto-wielding members Russia and China as well as South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar -- three non-permanent members -- abstaining.
Immediately after the voting in New York, fireworks lit Beirut’s skies in celebration of the tribunal’s establishment.
A sound bomb was hurled at the wall of Mar Mikhael Church in Beirut’s Shiyyah district.
Saad Hariri, with tears in his eyes, welcomed the U.N. vote to set up the court that would try his father’s murder suspects, in a televised statement.
The U.N. has no business trying anyone for anything.
Today’s good news ping.
The Syrian terrorist regime is going to create hell in Lebanon because of this and we should not allow them to do so.
U.N. votes for Hariri murder court
By Patrick Worsnip
http://news.scotsman.com/latest_international.cfm?id=849142007&format=print
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - In a challenge to Syria, the U.N. Security Council voted on Wednesday to set up a special court to prosecute the killing two years ago of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
After months of deadlock between deeply divided Lebanese politicians over the plan, 10 council members supported a Western-sponsored resolution to set up the tribunal and five abstained. There were no votes against.
The murder of Hariri and 22 others in a Beirut bomb blast in February 2005 convulsed Lebanon and forced Syria, held responsible by pro-government Lebanese politicians, to withdraw troops it had kept since the 1970s in its smaller neighbour.
Syria, which has denied responsibility, said the Security Council move violated Lebanese sovereignty and could plunge the country into further instability.
In pushing through the measure, Western powers are gambling that the boost to Lebanese government authority and to the rule of law will outweigh any violent reaction in Lebanon, whose government is at loggerheads with a Hezbollah-led opposition.
“By adopting this resolution, the council has demonstrated its commitment to the principle that there shall be no impunity for political assassinations in Lebanon or elsewhere,” said U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.
Britain’s U.N. envoy, Emyr Jones Parry, told reporters the vote would “send the right political signal” to Lebanon, a country with a long history of political assassinations, many of which have gone unpunished.
But the countries that abstained — Russia, China, Qatar, Indonesia and South Africa — argued that the council was exceeding its authority and interfering in Lebanese affairs.
“It is not appropriate for the Security Council to impose such a tribunal on Lebanon,” South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo told the council.
The move responds to a request from Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, but the country’s parliament has not approved it because speaker Nabih Berri, an opposition leader who disputes the cabinet’s legitimacy, has refused to convene the chamber.
TIES WITH SYRIA
Damascus has indicated it will not cooperate with the tribunal. A Syrian government statement on Wednesday said its position remained unchanged, warning that setting up the court “could cause the situation (in Lebanon) to become worse”.
But Lebanese Culture Minister Tareq Mitri, who attended the Security Council vote, said no one should be able to force his people to “choose between their quest for justice and their right to security and stability.”
In Beirut, Hariri’s son Saad, leader of the parliamentary majority, called the U.N. move “a victory for oppressed Lebanon”.
Khalilzad warned Syria on Tuesday it would face “increased pressure” if it did not cooperate.
But critics said that invoking Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, which makes the measure binding, gives the United Nations the unilateral right to establish the court and considered it an interference in Lebanon’s domestic affairs.
Jones Parry rejected that view. “Legally we can, politically we ought” to set up the court, he said. But he described Lebanon as “a unique case,” brought about by the inability of the Lebanese parliament to endorse the tribunal.
Western envoys amended the resolution last week to allow until June 10 before it goes into force to offer Lebanese factions a last chance to bury their differences over it.
The resolution puts into effect an agreement the United Nations reached with the Lebanese government last November.
The tribunal will follow Lebanese law but a majority of judges will be non-Lebanese. Key details, including where it would be based, remain to be decided, and diplomats expect a year’s delay before it starts working.
Lebanese authorities are currently holding eight people over the Hariri killing. They are four pro-Syrian generals who headed Lebanese security departments at the time and four members of a small Syrian-backed Sunni Muslim group accused of having played a role in monitoring Hariri’s movements.
Early reports from a U.N. inquiry into Hariri’s death implicated Syrian and Lebanese security officials, but the continuing investigation has not yet recommended who should be indicted in the affair.
Things really are going to heat up in Lebanon as we can surmise. Iran and Syria are not going to let up.
Turkey Seizes Syria-Bound Weapons
31/05/2007
http://www.asharqalawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=9126
ANKARA, Turkey, (AP) - Turkish authorities seized weapons hidden among construction materials on a Syria-bound train from Iran after Kurdish guerrillas bombed and derailed the train, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
The cargo was discovered when authorities checked containers on the train, which was attacked by separatist Kurdish guerrillas on May 25 near the town of Genc in southeastern Bingol province, Prosecutor Ismail Sari told reporters Wednesday.
The bomb attack derailed seven of the train’s cars, Sari said. Authorities were investigating the incident, and would also check cargo on the rest of the train, he said.
The Iranian Embassy issued a statement Wednesday denying that the weapons belonged to Iran, and said the allegations were being made “by circles” aiming to disrupt Turkey’s close relations with Iran.
Earlier Wednesday, a government official said the cargo included machine guns and pistols. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The private Dogan news agency said the cargo included a rocket launch pad and 300 rockets, as well as other weapons and ammunition.
Turkish authorities suspect Iran is using Turkey as a transit point to send arms to Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement via Syria.
On Tuesday evening, Turkish authorities forced a Syrian plane flying from Iran to land in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir and searched it for weapons. No arms were found.
Turkey, the only Muslim member of NATO, borders both Iran and Syria. It has good relations with Israel and its Arab neighbors and has contributed troops to the U.N.-led peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
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