Thursday, April 05, 2007
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denied Wednesday that the submission of a petition to the United Nations by pro-government MPS was "a conspiracy," but Speaker Nabih Berri described the move as a power grab that had nothing to do with its subject – the creation of a court to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The country appeared on the verge of further division after the parliamentary majority leader, MP Saad Hariri, handed over a petition signed by 70 MPs that called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to "take alternative measures according to the UN Charter to establish the tribunal."