Beirut waiting for Mehlis report and UN decision on disarming Hizbollah
Beirut (AsiaNews/Agencies) UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen Monday met Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris today to discuss disarming Hizbollah and Palestinian militias in Lebanon as part of the implementation process of UN Resolution 1559.
Once back in New York, Roed-Larsen will hand UN General Secretary Kofi Annan his report on Resolution 1559 implementation just two days before Detlev Mehlis does the same for the report by the UN special commission he chaired on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
In relation to the Mehlis report, PM Siniora said that it would be in Lebanon's interest the enquiry be extended. "This way," he stressed, "the report can be analysed and the situation examined from different points of view. We don't know what is in the document and are waiting to take the necessary decisions".
Lebanon's press reports that in his meetings with French leaders, starting Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, Siniora will ask that the mandate of the international commission of enquiry be extended till December.
In Beirut the press is focusing on Saad Hariri's Future party lobbying efforts vis-à-vis foreign embassies to have an international tribunal try those responsible for the murder of the former Prime Minister.
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19/10/2005
