Security Council's patience with Lebanon is 'dropping' - Ban Un chief offers to return for more mediation

Daily Star - Security Council's patience with Lebanon is 'dropping' - Ban Un chief offers to return for more mediation, May 08, 2007

By Hani M. Bathish Daily Star staff

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned on Monday that the patience of UN Security Council members was wearing thin over what he called continued obstruction by the Lebanese opposition of the creation of special court to try suspects in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
In an interview with pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, Ban said he may visit Lebanon for a second time if he felt there was a need to do so, adding that he aims to play a bigger role in efforts to end the political crisis in the country.
The secretary general visited Lebanon at the end of March.
"What I know is that the level of patience is dropping, because many [in the Security Council] have concluded that the situation has reached a dead end," Ban said, adding that council members would not allow him "months" to arrive at a solution to the current impasse before resorting to establishing the tribunal under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.
Chapter 7 status would open the way for the tribunal to begin its work without the approval of the Lebanese Parliament.
The secretary general expressed his wish that additional efforts be made to ratify the tribunal through Lebanese constitutional institutions. "It remains vital that the Lebanese people focus on reaffirming national consensus," he said. "I pledged, for my part, to help them to that end." Ban said he would have to give his own report to the council on the matter of the tribunal but only after conferring with regional leaders, among them Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Syrian President Bashar Assad. In a private meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Ban said he revealed what steps he plans to take to help the Lebanese achieve national reconciliation.
Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, speaking to reporters after receiving a delegation from the Future Women's Association Monday, said action on the tribunal would come in a matter of weeks.
Hamadeh warned opponents of the draft plan for the court that "our commitment to the tribunal is constant and it will see the light of day within a few weeks," but he added that he would prefer that the tribunal be ratified by consensus.
"We have undergone over the past 12 months constant political attacks, been subjected to terror campaigns and movements both political and in the streets all aimed at suppressing the truth and thwarting justice," Hamadeh said.
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Geir Pedersen, speaking to reporters after meeting Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani on Monday, said conflict over the tribunal must be resolved as quickly as possible.
Pedersen said the best solution was for the tribunal to be ratified in Lebanon, despite the difficulties of the task. Pedersen said his talks with Qabbani focused on national unity.
Separately, political rhetoric over presidential elections scheduled for late September continued to heat up.
Reform and Change Bloc leader MP Michel Aoun told a news conference Monday that in any democracy the people are sovereign, and direct popular elections are the most refined means of electing a president.
"We saw how [the ruling coalition] responded to our suggestion of direct election, as if it's a crime," he said. "Do they have to be rude about it, can't they just simply say no?"
The Lebanese Constitution calls for Parliament to elect the country's president.
He assailed what he called "an improper and rude manner of political discourse" by pro-government politicians.
On the matter of the tribunal, Aoun said that referring the proposal to the UN Security Council would be a grave violation and constitute total disregard for the Constitution.
Aoun also congratulated the French people for electing Nicolas Sarkozy as their next president and expressed hope that relations between France and Lebanon will go back to what they were like in the past, which he characterized as "excellent relations between two countries, not relations between individuals and families based on personal interests" - a clear reference to incumbent Jacques Chirac's close ties to the current Lebanese government.
Former President Amin Gemayel warned of the dangers of any solutions to the crisis "outside the framework of the Constitution and its institutions."