Delegation from UN Tribunal holds talks with Lebanese officials

Sep 6, 2011, 6:54 GMT

Beirut - A delegation of the UN Special Tribunal (STL) for Lebanon, which is probing the 2005 assassination of then-Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, held 'closed door' meetings with Beirut officials chiefly about the STL's funding, officials said Tuesday.

STL Registrar Herman von Hebel, along with an attorney and a French security officer, arrived in Beirut unannounced and held talks late Monday with Premier Nagib Mikati, a government official said.

The official, who requested anonymity, told the German Press Agency dpa that the talks mainly focused on Lebanon's share of funding the STL.

According to the tribunal's 2007 founding text, Lebanon is responsible for 49 per cent of the court's finances. So far Beirut has not paid its share for this year.

The STL, which was established to try those involved in the Hariri assassination, released in late June indictments and arrest warrants against four members of Hezbollah.

The party has denied involvement in the assassination and called on the Hezbollah-backed government, now in power in Lebanon, to stop funding the court, alleging that it is aimed at targeting the Lebanese Shiite group and sowing strife in the country.

Prominent Druze politician Walid Jumblatt, a close ally of Hezbollah, said at the weekend that the government had no option than to fund the STL.

'The cabinet that was formed committed itself and will abide by international resolutions and we cannot run away from these resolutions just like we cannot run away from funding the court,' Jumblatt said.

Hariri was assassinated in massive bomb blast on February 14, 2005 in a seaside area of Beirut. His killing was widely blamed on Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

The assassination caused a wide-scale outcry in and outside the country, which eventually led Syria on April 26, 2005 to end its 30 years of military presence in Lebanon.

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