Lebanese Officials on Defensive Over U.N. Report

Reuters, BEIRUT, Lebanon,  March 26, 2005

Lebanese authorities, put on the defensive by a damning U.N. report on security failings, indicated Friday they would accept an international inquiry into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

A U.N. fact-finding team said in a report released on Thursday that Lebanon's own inquiry into Hariri's death on Feb. 14 was seriously flawed and called for an international investigation, a demand long made by the Lebanese opposition.

Lebanon's pro-Syrian officials slammed the report's findings. Opposition figures said it strengthened their calls for such an inquiry and for resignations in the Lebanese security, who they say had a role in Hariri's death.

Hariri's assassination has plunged Lebanon into a political crisis that prompted the resignation of the government, led to mass protests by the opposition and loyalists and piled pressure on Syria to withdraw all its forces from its tiny neighbor.

Asked about the U.N. report's call for an international investigation at a news conference, caretaker Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud said: "We welcome all means that lead us to the truth ... We have nothing to hide."

Hammoud said authorities would wait for the U.N. Security Council to issue a resolution on an investigation.

But he criticized the report for blaming Lebanon for not protecting Hariri. "This conclusion is alien to reality ... There is no absolute security in any country in the world," he said, adding conclusions were "not based on documents or evidence."

Asked about the report's conclusion that the Lebanese inquiry was flawed, caretaker Justice Minister Adnan Addoum said: "This is a very dangerous accusation that infringes on the dignity of the judicial body and security agencies."

But he admitted Lebanon lacked some inquiry capabilities.

The United States and France, which co-sponsored a resolution calling for Syrian forces to leave, were expected to introduce a resolution in the Security Council calling for an international inquiry, council diplomats said Thursday.

The fact-finding mission said Syrian military intelligence bore primary responsibility for a lack of security and protection and Lebanese security showed "systematic negligence."

SHIFT

Lebanese authorities had until now rejected opposition calls for an international investigation saying it would infringe Lebanese sovereignty, but Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud indicated a shift after the U.N. report's release.

In a statement Thursday, he urged the United Nations to "do what's necessary to reveal the truth in the crime."

Exiled Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, who like other anti-Syrian figures has blamed Syria for Hariri's death, said Lahoud had no choice but to accept a recommendation for an international inquiry.

"(Lahoud) was obliged to accept it or become one of the accused. Lahoud was obliged to take this path," the former Lebanese army general told Reuters by telephone from Paris.

Syria has denied any involvement in Hariri's death.

Syria's U.N. ambassador, Fayssal Mekdad, questioned the need for an international inquiry but said it was up to Beirut to decide because "we don't interfere in their affairs."

The U.N. team's report gave credence to alleged threats of "physical harm" made by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Hariri while he was still prime minister.

The report cited accounts of a meeting between the two based on Hariri's statements to others. They had met to discuss extending Lahoud's presidential term, which Hariri and Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt opposed.

Assad was quoted as saying he "would rather break Lebanon over the heads of Hariri and Jumblatt than see his word in Lebanon broken."

The United States said the report raised "serious and troubling allegations" and wanted an international commission.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said he expects Syria to complete its withdrawal before May elections in Lebanon. While Damascus has agreed to pull out, it has not yet publicly set a timetable for its departure.

By Edmund Blair

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

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