Thursday, April 05, 2007

BKIRKI: Lebanon’s influential Council of Maronite Bishops fired a warning shot across the bow of the opposition on Wednesday, saying in a hard-hitting statement that presidential elections must be held on time. "We insist that the presidential elections take place on the date set by the Constitution, at the latest," the council said after its monthly meeting.

"Any attempts by any political power, or bloc or party to prevent the necessary quorum at the parliamentary session to elect the next president will be considered a violation of the Constitution and democratic principles," it added.

Thursday,April 05,2007

 JERUSALEM (AFP) – A commission assessing the conduct of last summer’s war in Lebanon will say the government should have resigned in the war’s aftermath, a commission member was quoted as saying on Wednesday.       "The commission will take a harsh and specific tone with those responsible for the incidents of the recent war," the source told the Yediot Aharonot daily newspaper’s Ynet website.

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."

Wednesday,April 04,2007

 Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hizbullah’s second in command, has accused the government majority of not wanting an international tribunal, but running Lebanon, instead.
"They don’t want the court, they want to control Lebanon," Qassem told a crowd in Dahiyeh, or Beirut’s southern suburbs, Tuesday night on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed’s birthday.
"They hide behind the tribunal to prevent the opposition from taking part in decision making," he said.

Wednesday,April 04,2007

The parliamentary majority has handed a petition to the United Nations requesting that the world body establish an international tribunal on the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.

Legislature Saad Hariri on Tuesday delivered the petition which was signed by 70 lawmakers to the U.N. special coordinator in Lebanon, Geir Pederson.

Wednesday,April 04,2007

 Druze leader and MP Walid Jumblat said creation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter was an available option.

Tuesday,April 03,2007

BEIRUT, April 2(Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Syria on Monday to play a positive role in Lebanon and to cooperate with international efforts to put the suspected killers of Lebanese ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri on trial.

Merkel, on a one-day visit to Lebanon at the end of a Middle East tour, pledged more support to Lebanese security forces and the establishment of a U.N.-backed court to try suspects in the assassination of Hariri and other political attacks.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

 BEIRUT: Former President Amin Gemayel said on Monday that it was becoming increasingly likely that an international tribunal to try suspects into the murder of former Premier Rafik Hariri would be formed under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which would allow the tribunal to go forward even without the endorsement of the Lebanese government.

"Syria’s vows that it will not cooperate with the international tribunal mean that it is more than likely that it will be formed under Chapter 7, because otherwise suspects in the Hariri murder cannot be extradited," Gemayel said.

Monday, April 02, 2007

BZUMMAR: Lebanese Forces (LF) leader   Samir Geagea said on Sunday that the only solution to Lebanon’s political crisis was to elect a new president and disarm all militias. "The position of president has been vacant and totally inefficient for the past 15 years and some armed groups in Lebanon have extensive external connections and were militarily a lot more powerful than the government, which is totally unacceptable," Geagea told a delegation of Casino du Liban employees who came to visit him at his residence in Bzummar.