Now lebanon - Houri says government respects STL, October 2, 2011

Future bloc MP Ammar Houri said on Sunday that Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s position favoring Lebanon providing its share of funding for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) “stems from the government’s stance on international resolutions in the ministerial statement.”
“Mikati has not expressed an individual position on STL funding, he expresses the decision of the government to respect the tribunal,” Houri told LBC television.
Houri also said that “UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is the one to decide on the [issue of the] extension of the STL’s [mandate].”
“[Ban] may consult the UN Security Council and Lebanese government on the matter, but Lebanon has no right to refuse the extension.”
Houri also rejected Change and Reform bloc leader Michel Aoun’s comment that Mikati should fund the STL out of his own money.

“The STL system does not allow donations from individuals, and Lebanon has to pay its share of the funding sooner or later,” he said.
“The government can provide $30 million for the STL the same way it provided $1.2 billion for the energy project,” he added in reference to the energy plan drafted by Aoun’s bloc
The UN-backed tribunal is funded by an assortment of donor countries from around the world and Lebanon, which contributes 49 percent of the annual funding.
However, 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.