Bolton: Mehlis probe running out of time

Daily Star ^ | November 18, 2005 | Leila Hatoum

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BEIRUT: It would be "hard" for the UN probe into the murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri to "give a definitive recommendation" on the case, according to U.S. Ambassador to the UN John Bolton.

Bolton, who hoped the investigation "doesn't take too long to resolve," said he was concerned the probe's mandate might expire before it arrives at a conclusion.

"Days go by, and we are getting close to the end of the probe's mandate on December 15," Bolton said, adding: "Each day that goes by makes it harder for UN chief investigator Detlev Mehlis and his colleagues to finish their work."

The ambassador also renewed his country's call "for full and immediate Syrian cooperation" with the UN probe.

Syria has been under international pressure to hand over six of its top security chiefs to be questioned by the UN probe, including Assef Shawkat, Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law.

Mehlis has requested to question the Syrian officials at his headquarters in Lebanon, a scenario Damascus refuses, saying it would provoke demonstrations and create tension in its tiny neighbor.

Syria has offered that the officials be interviewed at UN headquarters in Syria or Arab League headquarters in Cairo as alternate venues.

Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora told Lebanese daily An-Nahar that "it would be better if the questioning of the six officers happens outside Lebanon."

Lebanese security sources said Thursday Syria has demanded specific guarantees from Mehlis before handing over the six officers, including that the probe and the country where the officials are questioned should "not detain, arrest or move the six officers to another location."

The sources added that Damascus "will send Riad Daoudi [the legal adviser at the Syrian Foreign Ministry] to Lebanon sometime next week to discuss with Mehlis the possible alternative locations where the officers could be questioned."

They said that Mehlis, whose return date to Lebanon has not been confirmed, "is expected in Lebanon sometime within the next 24 hours," adding that the chief investigator "has not closed the door completely on the Syrian proposals."

Cyprus and Geneva have also emerged as possible alternative locations for the questioning, according to Lebanese judicial sources.

Asked about the possible location of the interrogations, Bolton said "it is important to let Mehlis pursue this."

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had called Assad on Monday to demand "more cooperation with the UN probe," according to UN Deputy Spokesperson Marie Okabe, while Assad was reported to have sent several messages to Annan and UN member countries to explain Syria's position and its willingness to cooperate.

Meanwhile, UN Undersecretary for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari spent his third and final day in Lebanon visiting the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters while inspecting the Blue Line and overall situation in the South.

Gambari also met with Sidon MP Bahia Hariri, the sister of slain Premier Hariri, where they discussed the developments in the country and the region.

The UN official told Hariri that Annan "is deeply committed to finding the truth," behind her brother's assassination.

Gambari said that he had also discussed the matter with Siniora and that he would transfer all the information he had acquired to the secretary general.

Gambari was in Lebanon as part of a regional tour that will include Jordan, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories for discussions on political developments at a critical juncture for Lebanon and the Middle East peace process.

Hizbullah MP Ali Ammar criticized Gambari's visit, saying "we were expecting the UN to move to block the increasing Israeli breaches to Lebanese sovereignty."

According to the MP, Gambari's visit "aims at marketing" the expansion of the mission of Gier Pedersen, Annan's representative to the South, to encompass all of Lebanon.

"With all due respect to Gambari, does this expansion of powers represent a new official foreign mandate over Lebanon?" he asked. - With Agencies

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I like the way Condi and Bolton are using a combination of good-cop-bad-cop and low-profile tactics with this, letting the UN and EU be out in front. I think they know both will wimp out and they can show they have been given a chance.