This blog of the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) aims at granting the public opinion access to all information related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon : daily press review in english, french and arabic ; UN documents, etc...

Ce blog du
Centre Libanais des droits humains (CLDH) a pour objectif de rendre accessible à l'opinion publique toute l'information relative au Tribunal Spécial pour le Liban : revue de presse quotidienne en anglais, francais et arabe ; documents onusiens ; rapports, etc...
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PRESS REVIEW

February 17, 2010 - Naharnet - 1st US Ambassador to Syria after 5-year Boycott over Hariri's Assassination


U.S. President Barack Obama nominated career diplomat Robert Ford as the first U.S. ambassador to Syria in five years, seeking to engage a U.S. foe and energize his thwarted Middle East peace push.
Ford will be the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus since Washington recalled its envoy after former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in February 2005 in a bombing blamed on Syria.

"Ambassador Ford is a highly accomplished diplomat with many years of experience in the Middle East," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

"His appointment represents President Obama's commitment to use engagement to advance U.S. interests by improving communication with the Syrian government and people.

"If confirmed by the Senate, Ambassador Ford will engage the Syrian government on how we can enhance relations, while addressing areas of ongoing concern."

But the nomination ignited a festering row with Republicans over Obama's signature policy of seeking to engage U.S. foes.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committee blasted the move as "reckless engagement" and a reward for a U.S. enemy.

"With this nomination, our foreign policy again risks sending the message that it is better to be an intractable enemy than a cooperative, loyal U.S. ally," she said in a statement.

"Despite the Administration's outreach, Syria continues to sponsor violent extremist groups like Hizbullah and Hamas, to undermine Lebanon's sovereignty, and to pursue unconventional weapons and missile capabilities."

The White House announcement came on the eve of a visit to Syria by William Burns, a top State Department official, which the administration says will further dialogue with Damascus on "all aspects" of a strained relationship.

Obama has seen his efforts to engage Iran and broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians founder in his first year in office, and the overture to Syria may be aimed at seeking a new way to ease the deadlock.

But analysts say it seems unlikely that the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad, with a first priority of ensuring its own survival, will be keen to sever links with Iran or make immediate concessions to Israel.

U.S. officials may be keen to increase intelligence cooperation with Syria, though its stakeholding in Lebanon via Hizbullah will likely prove a long-term impediment to better ties.

The Obama administration announced earlier this month that it picked a new ambassador, and passed Ford's name, as per diplomatic protocol, to Damascus for approval before it was publicly announced.

Obama's move triggered immediate opposition from his Republican foes in Congress.

Ford, currently deputy chief of mission in the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, was previously ambassador to Algeria, and has also had postings in Izmir and Cairo in a 25-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service.

Obama apparently paved the way for the announcement on Friday, calling Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri to tell him that he strongly supports the effort to bring the killers of his late father to justice.

The previous administration of President George W. Bush recalled the U.S. ambassador from Damascus and put relations with Syria on hold in 2005, following Hariri's killing.

His death in a massive bomb blast on the Beirut seafront in February of that year was widely blamed on Syria although Damascus has denied any involvement.

An international tribunal based in The Hague was set up by a U.N. Security Council resolution in 2007 to try suspects in the murder.

A U.N. commission of inquiry initially said it had found evidence to implicate Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services but there are no suspects in custody.(AFP)

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Background - خلفية

On 13 December 2005 the Government of the Lebanese Republic requested the UN to establish a tribunal of an international character to try all those who are alleged responsible for the attack of 14 february 2005 that killed the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others. The United Nations and the Lebanese Republic consequently negotiated an agreement on the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Liens - Links - مواقع ذات صلة

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, David Schenker , March 30, 2010 . Beirut Spring: The Hariri Tribunal Goes Hunting for Hizballah


Frederic Megret, McGill University, 2008. A special tribunal for Lebanon: the UN Security Council and the emancipation of International Criminal Justice


International Center for Transitional Justice Handbook on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, April 10, 2008


United Nations
Conférence de presse de Nicolas Michel, 19 Sept 2007
Conférence de presse de Nicolas Michel, 27 Mars 2008


Département d'Etat américain
* 2009 Human Rights report
* 2008 Human Rights report
* 2007 Human Rights report
* 2006 Human Rights report
* 2005 Human Rights report



ICG - International Crisis Group
The Hariri Tribunal: Separate the Political and the Judicial, 19 July, 2007. [Fr]


HCSS - Hague Centre for strategic studies
Hariri, Homicide and the Hague


Human Rights Watch
* Hariri Tribunal can restore faith in law, 11 may 2006
* Letter to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, april 27, 2006


Amnesty International
* STL insufficient without wider action to combat impunity
* Liban : le Tribunal de tous les dangers, mai 2007
* Jeu de mecano


Courrier de l'ACAT - Wadih Al Asmar
Le Tribunal spécial pour le Liban : entre espoir et inquiétude


Georges Corm
La justice penale internationale pour le Liban : bienfait ou malediction?


Nadim Shedadi and Elizabeth Wilmshurt, Chatham House
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon : the UN on Trial?, July 2007


Issam Michael Saliba, Law Library of Congress
International Tribunals, National Crimes and the Hariri Assassination : a novel development in International Criminal Law, June 2007


Mona Yacoubian, Council on Foreign Relations
Linkages between Special UN Tribunal, Lebanon, and Syria, June 1, 2007