BEIRUT: The dispute over the financing of a U.N.-backed court took a
new twist Tuesday when Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun
flatly rejected commitment by President Michel Sleiman and Prime
Minister Najib Mikati to pay Lebanon’s $32 million share to the court’s
funding.
In the meantime, the parliamentary Future bloc of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the STL’s funding was not subject to debate, calling on the Hezbollah-dominated government to pay Lebanon’s share to the court.
The escalation of the row over the STL’s funding came on the eve of a Cabinet session which has some 150 items on its agenda. However, given the continued sharp differences among Cabinet ministers, the STL’s funding and appointments in the public administration were not included on the agenda of Wednesday’s Cabinet session.
Although administrative appointments are not on the Cabinet’s agenda, a senior political source told The Daily Star Tuesday night that the Cabinet is expected to appoint Wednesday Hezbollah-backed Adnan Assayed Hussein, a former state minister, as president of the state-run Lebanese University, a post reserved by convention for a Shiite.
The source said that starting from next week, the Cabinet will begin tackling the issue of appointments to fill more than 400 vacant posts in the public administration.
Mikati met Tuesday with Hezbollah and Amal officials as part of behind-the-scene contacts to narrow differences within the Cabinet over the STL’s funding and administrative appointments, the source said.
Aoun renewed his bloc’s rejection of funding a tribunal which he considers unconstitutional because its formation had not been approved by parliament. He also rejected Sleiman and Mikati’s commitments to finance the STL made in their speeches at the U.N. Security Council last month.
“Neither Prime Minister Najib Mikati nor President Michel Sleiman or others have the right to finance the tribunal in the absence of an agreement with the United Nations. If Mikati wanted to finance it from his pocket, let him do so,” Aoun told a news conference after chairing a weekly meeting of his parliamentary Change and Reform bloc.
Recalling that the STL had not been approved by Parliament when it was formed in 2007 by the United Nations, Aoun said: “Unless [the STL] has been passed by constitutional means, [Mikati] has no right to pay any penny and has no right to make commitment. I am not ready to pay money in an illegitimate and unconstitutional manner. Anyone who is committed to financing the tribunal, let him pay the money from his own wealth and private money.”
Meanwhile, the Future bloc again urged the government to pay Lebanon’s share to the funding of the STL which, it said, was set up to reveal the truth behind the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others.
“The Future bloc considers the government’s commitment to funding the STL … as a matter not subject to debate. It is the responsibility and duty of the executive authority and the government to do their duties and respect Lebanon’s implementation of its commitments,” said a statement issued after the bloc’s meeting.
Apparently referring to Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, the statement said: “It has become clear that there are some who are trying to obstruct the funding. On the other hand, there are those who are trying to cover and protect the four accused of committing the crime and preventing their handover to the relevant judiciary, thus putting Lebanon on a collision course with the international community.
“Hezbollah, which is represented in the government and to which the four accused belong, was quick by its officials to declare the protection of the accused raising them to the rank of saints,” the statement said. “Therefore, the government must do what it has to do to approve the [STL’s] funding and hand over the accused to the international tribunal.”
A Hezbollah source said Monday the Cabinet would not approve the payment of Lebanon’s share to the STL’s funding because there is a majority in the Cabinet that is against the tribunal and its funding.
In the meantime, the parliamentary Future bloc of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said the STL’s funding was not subject to debate, calling on the Hezbollah-dominated government to pay Lebanon’s share to the court.
The escalation of the row over the STL’s funding came on the eve of a Cabinet session which has some 150 items on its agenda. However, given the continued sharp differences among Cabinet ministers, the STL’s funding and appointments in the public administration were not included on the agenda of Wednesday’s Cabinet session.
Although administrative appointments are not on the Cabinet’s agenda, a senior political source told The Daily Star Tuesday night that the Cabinet is expected to appoint Wednesday Hezbollah-backed Adnan Assayed Hussein, a former state minister, as president of the state-run Lebanese University, a post reserved by convention for a Shiite.
The source said that starting from next week, the Cabinet will begin tackling the issue of appointments to fill more than 400 vacant posts in the public administration.
Mikati met Tuesday with Hezbollah and Amal officials as part of behind-the-scene contacts to narrow differences within the Cabinet over the STL’s funding and administrative appointments, the source said.
Aoun renewed his bloc’s rejection of funding a tribunal which he considers unconstitutional because its formation had not been approved by parliament. He also rejected Sleiman and Mikati’s commitments to finance the STL made in their speeches at the U.N. Security Council last month.
“Neither Prime Minister Najib Mikati nor President Michel Sleiman or others have the right to finance the tribunal in the absence of an agreement with the United Nations. If Mikati wanted to finance it from his pocket, let him do so,” Aoun told a news conference after chairing a weekly meeting of his parliamentary Change and Reform bloc.
Recalling that the STL had not been approved by Parliament when it was formed in 2007 by the United Nations, Aoun said: “Unless [the STL] has been passed by constitutional means, [Mikati] has no right to pay any penny and has no right to make commitment. I am not ready to pay money in an illegitimate and unconstitutional manner. Anyone who is committed to financing the tribunal, let him pay the money from his own wealth and private money.”
Meanwhile, the Future bloc again urged the government to pay Lebanon’s share to the funding of the STL which, it said, was set up to reveal the truth behind the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others.
“The Future bloc considers the government’s commitment to funding the STL … as a matter not subject to debate. It is the responsibility and duty of the executive authority and the government to do their duties and respect Lebanon’s implementation of its commitments,” said a statement issued after the bloc’s meeting.
Apparently referring to Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, the statement said: “It has become clear that there are some who are trying to obstruct the funding. On the other hand, there are those who are trying to cover and protect the four accused of committing the crime and preventing their handover to the relevant judiciary, thus putting Lebanon on a collision course with the international community.
“Hezbollah, which is represented in the government and to which the four accused belong, was quick by its officials to declare the protection of the accused raising them to the rank of saints,” the statement said. “Therefore, the government must do what it has to do to approve the [STL’s] funding and hand over the accused to the international tribunal.”
A Hezbollah source said Monday the Cabinet would not approve the payment of Lebanon’s share to the STL’s funding because there is a majority in the Cabinet that is against the tribunal and its funding.
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