Security Council meets to assess progress on Resolution 1559, Ban confirms extension of brammertz's mandate as head of hariri probe

Daily Star - Security Council meets to assess progress on Resolution 1559, Ban confirms extension of brammertz's mandate as head of hariri probe, June 12, 2007

The UN Security Council met in New York on Monday for consultations on Resolution 1559, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon declared his intention to extend the mandate of Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz as the head of the probe into the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
As The Daily Star went to press, the Security Council had not yet met. The council was scheduled to meet at 10 p.m. Lebanon time to discuss the main points remaining for the full implementation of 1559: free and fair presidential elections in Lebanon, the disarmament of all Lebanese militias and respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Lebanon.
As for Brammertz, his mandate will be extended until December of this year, according to Ban's press office.
UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said Ban had informed the Security Council last week of his intention to extend Brammertz' mandate, which expires this month. Ban "wishes to thank Mr. Brammertz for his leadership in advancing the investigation and for his commitment to providing continuity in the [investigation] commission's work," she added.
In his last interim report, Brammertz reported some progress in his investigation and said the Hariri killing was most likely politically motivated. Hariri was killed along with 22 others in a massive bomb blast in Beirut on February 14, 2005.
Brammertz' German predecessor, Detlev Mehlis, had implicated senior Syrian officials in the Hariri slaying. Damascus has denied any connection with the assassination, which sparked weeks of mass demonstrations that led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in April 2005. Four Lebanese generals who headed the country's major security forces at the time of the killing have been in custody since 2005 on suspicion of involvement in the slaying.