BEIRUT: Lebanon paid its $36 million share of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's annual budget Wednesday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said, with the money coming from the budget of the prime minister's office and paid through the Higher Relief Committee, sources told The Daily Star.
"This morning, I transferred Lebanon's share of the [budget for the] tribunal," Mikati said during a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
"I cannot be a prime minister for a government that does not comply with international resolutions, therefore I transferred Lebanon’s share of the tribunal," Mikati said.
"This is a national decision to preserve Lebanon," he added.
In an immediate reaction the court said via its Twitter feed that it was “greatly encouraged by the Lebanese PM's announcement that [the] 2011 contribution to the #STL has been transferred to our account.”
“We look forward to receiving the money. When we do we will confirm that it has arrived,” it added.
There was no immediate response or reaction from Hezbollah or its March 8 allies.
Reacting to the earlier news that an agreement had been reached to fund the court, MP Ahmad Fatfat, a member of Saad Hariri’s Future parliamentary bloc, said approval of the tribunal’s funding was an acknowledgment by the March 8 camp that the STL is constitutional.
“By simply approving a means to fund the STL, the other side is acknowledging that the tribunal is not an Israeli tool or unconstitutional as they would say,” Fatfat told The Daily Star by telephone.
Speaking Wednesday afternoon, Mikati also urged the revival of national dialogue among rival politicians under the auspices of President Michel Sleiman.
The prime minister said the funding decision should not be considered as a victory for one political team against the other “but rather a gain for the state and all the Lebanese without exceptions.
"The decision stemmed from my desire to protect Lebanon ... as people, army, and resistance, and also from my belief in the right to achieve justice, as [we] should not overlook an assassination of a former prime minister."
"This is a decision that reflects Lebanon's commitment to international resolution and reinforces confidence in Lebanon," he said.
The Netherlands-based court has indicted four Hezbollah operatives in connection with former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's 2005 assassination, but they have not surrendered to the court.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, who has denounced the court as part of a U.S.-Israeli conspiracy, has, along with his allies, steadfastly pushed for Lebanon to cut all ties with the tribunal.
The Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition toppled the government of Saad Hariri, the slain leader's son, in January after he refused to cease cooperation with the court.
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