DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - LEBANON: BOMBS & FIREWORKS IN RESPONSE THE DECISION ABOUT THE HARIRI TRIBUNAL

Decision to set up international tribunal greeted with fireworks and bombs

Lebanon’s ruling coalition welcomes Security Council decision as opposition remains silent. Syria, which occupied Lebanon for 30 years, questions the decision it claims “violates Lebanese sovereignty.”

Beirut (AsiaNews) – Reactions were mixed to the decision of the United Nations Security Council to institute an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 other people on February 14, 2005 in Beirut, then still under Syrian control. In the capital’s Sunni neighbourhoods there were celebratory fire works; by constrast, a concussion bomb exploded near Mar Mikhael Church in Beirut's Shiyyah district
Leaders from Lebanon’s ruling coalition expressed positive views about the decision; Syria’s response was negative, whilst Lebanon’s opposition parties have still not made a public statement, except for Michel Aoun who condemned the fact that no suspects gave yet to be identified.

Ten Security Council members voted in favour of the resolution setting up the tribunal with veto-wielding members Russia and China as well as South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar abstaining.

Security Council Resolution 1757 will be implemented under Chapter VII of the UN Charter which allows for measures to counter threats against peace.

The resolution also includes a “sunrise clause”" that gives Lebanon's rival factions until June 10 to settle their differences and create their own court to try suspects in the Hariri killing.

It states that “the tribunal shall commence functioning on a date to be determined by the secretary general in consultation with the government of Lebanon, taking into account the progress of the work” of the UN panel which has been probing the Hariri murder for the past two years.

In any case, unless Lebanon’s internal situation gets any worse, the tribunal is not likely to be up and running for perhaps a year after the motion comes into force, diplomats said.

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