Naharnet Newsdesk - Saniora Seeks National Consensus on International Tribunal Despite Hizbullah's Adamant Rejection

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Saniora Seeks National Consensus on International Tribunal Despite Hizbullah's Adamant Rejection

Premier Saniora has launched national consultations, including the opposition, for a consensus on demanding an international tribunal to try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's suspected assassins, An Nahar and other dailies reported Saturday.
Saniora will be sounding out all political forces on the Lebanese spectrum for tabling a Lebanese demand before the U.N. Security Council to "form a tribunal with an international outlook that convenes outside Lebanese territory to try the suspects in Hariri's murder."

Saniora has already consulted Beirut's Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audeh on the issue and will take it up with Gen. Aoun at a lunch the leader of the Free Patriotic Party is scheduled to throw at his Rabieh mansion for Saniora on Monday.

Saniora has also scheduled a meeting with Saad Hariri's Future Tide bloc in parliament later on Monday.

An Nahar said there is no timeframe for Saniora's consultations "but that does not mean keeping at it for months nor for just a few days. It's a matter halfway through," An Nahar said.

Hizbullah remains adamant that the international tribunal would keep Lebanon under international tutelage spearheaded by the Bush administration and Israel.

"Hizbullah refuses the concept of an international tribunal as a matter of principle because it would throw Lebanon into the wind," the Party of God second-in-command Sheikh Naim Kassem said in an interview distributed by the privately owned Central News Agency in Beirut.

But Speaker Berri, who heads the other standard bearing Shiite Amal group, was quoted as saying by Hariri's Al Mustaqbal newspaper Saturday that as far as he is concerned the controversy over the international tribunal is a matter of timing.

"There is no role for a tribunal as long as the investigation is not wrapped up yet," Berri told Al Mustaqbal. "Now that we are seeking a 6-month extension for the probe, that means it is too early to think of a tribunal."

"Once we reach the stage of a trial, I am for an international trial by a mixed tribunal on Lebanese soil," Berri said.

He noted that major issues facing Lebanon should be subject to a national consensus, not a matter for a majority in parliament to handle alone.

Beirut, 03 Dec 05, 09:20


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