Now lebanon - Gengenian warns of “severe consequences” if STL funding not secured, October 27, 2011

Lebanese Forces bloc MP Shant Gengenian on Thursday warned that the government’s failure to provide its annual share of funding to the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will have “severe consequences.”“Not honoring Lebanon’s commitments to the tribunal has grave consequences…and this is what Lebanese officials have been told by Western diplomats,” the MP told the Voice of Lebanon (93.3) radio station.He also said that the government is not tackling the STL funding issue “in a serious manner.”Hezbollah and other March 8 parties and figures have spoken out against Lebanon’s ties and funding for the tribunal and called it a tool to incite sectarian strife in Lebanon, however, Prime Minister Najib Mikati has repeatedly voiced Lebanon’s commitment to the tribunal.Four Hezbollah members have been indicted by the STL for the Rafik Hariri murder. However, the Shia group strongly denies the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.