Region | Lebanon
Hariri probe could take years if Syria stalls says Mehlis
UN inquiry into assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri could take years unless Syria speeds up cooperation with the investigation.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:31 May 3, 2009
United Nations: The UN inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri could take years unless Syria speeds up cooperation with the investigation, the head of the probe said on Tuesday.
In response, Syria's UN ambassador Fayssal Mekdad told the UN Security Council vigorously denied his country had anything to hide or had hindered the investigation, led by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis.
"Syria has nothing do with this heinous crime," he said.
The Syrian ambassador gave his government's first reaction to a 25-page report Mehlis delivered to the council on Monday.
Mehlis said his team had found new evidence implicating Syria in the murder of Hariri and 22 others last February 14 in Beirut.
At the same time the Security Council considered a resolution that France, the United States and Britain, are proposing to extend the Hariri investigation, which expires on Thursday, for another six months.
The draft would expand the commission's mandate "to include investigations on the terrorist attacks perpetrated in Lebanon since October 1, 2004 at the discretion of the commission."
It also asks Secretary-General Kofi Annan to help Lebanon identify the scope of assistance needed for its request to try suspects before an international tribunal. But it does not approve any such court.
The French resolution would again demand that Syria cooperate with the probe, whose mandate would be extended by another six months until June 15. It could be extended again in the future at the request of the commission or of Lebanon.
Absent from the draft was any mention of sanctions. In October, the Security Council passed a resolution that threatened "further action" - raising the possibility of sanctions - unless Syria cooperates.
A leading proponent had appeared to be the United States, whose ambassador, John Bolton, was adamant that Syria was obstructing the probe.
Mehlis, who has headed the UN probe for seven months, said that cooperation with Damascus had improved but he was not sure this would continue.
He said that Syria agreed, after "much hesitation and procrastination" to let his team interview five suspects in Vienna last week of the 19 people he believed were involved in the Hariri killing.
"At this rate the investigation might take another year or two," Mehlis said. "It remains to be seen whether the Syrian cooperation will be in full and without any conditions."
Mehlis said he would leave his post and return to Berlin as soon as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan named a successor. Annan said he expected to do this within two weeks.
"I will not leave my staff without a commissioner," Mehlis told a news conference.
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