Row over UN tribunal funding threatens Lebanese cabinet

Nov 29, 2011, 19:29 GMT

Beirut - A political row in Lebanon over the funding of a UN court probing the assassination of ex-premier Rafik Hariri is threatening to bring down the Hezbollah-backed cabinet and plunge the country into a political crisis.

A source close to Lebanese Prime Minister Nagib Mikati told dpa on Tuesday that the premier was 'adamant' he would resign if the cabinet did not approve the payment of Lebanon's share of funding for the international court.

Mikati called for the cabinet to meet on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which was established by the United Nations in 2007, has indicted four Hezbollah members over the 2005 assassination of Hariri in a bombing that also killed 22 other people in Beirut.

The tribunal has been a controversial topic in the country, with the Shiite Hezbollah movement consistently rejecting any attempt to provide Lebanon's share of the court's funds or to hand over those indicted. It has denied any involvement in the case and calls the tribunal 'an Israeli-US conspiracy.'

Lebanon contributes 49 per cent of the STL's annual funding. The country had until the end of October to transfer the now overdue funds.

The political row between the rival factions has put the Hezbollah-appointed Muslim-Sunni premier at odds with his international backers.

'I cannot imagine being prime minister of a government ... that fails to honour its international commitments or isolates itself from the international community,' Mikati said in a television interview last week.

Read more about UN