DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - LEBANON: U.S. ENVOY WILL PRESIDE OVER FURTHER DHIMMIFICATION OF LEBANESE CHRISTIANS

US envoy due in Beirut for talks with Muslim,Christian leaders

Beirut - US Middle East envoy David Welch was due to arrive later Tuesday in Beirut to hold talks with various Muslim and Christian Lebanese officials.

Welch, who is on his first visit to Lebanon in nine months, was due to meet with Lebanon's Western-backed prime minister, Fouad Seniora.

The visit comes a day after Seniora sent a letter to the United Nations asking the UN Security Council to impose an international court to try suspects in the 2005 murder of former premier Rafiq Hariri.

Facing a volatile stalemate in his own country, Premier Seniora on Monday called on the United Nations to unilaterally approve an international tribunal.

'The Lebanese government considers that the time has come for the Security Council to help make the special tribunal for Lebanon a reality,' said Seniora in the letter.

'We therefore ask you, as a matter of urgency, to put before the Security Council our request that a special tribunal be put into effect,' the letter said.

Lebanon's parliament has failed to ratify the tribunal because Shiite House Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of the Shiite Hezbollah movement heading the pro-Syrian opposition, has refused to convene the chamber. Berri considers the cabinet of Premier Seniora illegitimate since six pro-Syrian ministers resigned from the government last November.

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