By Patrick Galey
BEIRUT: Lebanon is unlikely to be subjected to international
sanctions should it fail to meet a looming deadline to fund the United
Nations-backed court probing the assassination of Statesman Rafik Hariri,
political and diplomatic sources have told The Daily Star.
It is anticipated that the cutoff date to provide the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon $32 million for its 2011 running costs will be missed and,
although the threat of U.N. sanctions has been raised, the government does not
believe it will be punished.
“The government will not fund the STL … and we don’t expect the
Security Council to impose sanctions against Lebanon because of that,” a senior
political source close to Hezbollah told The Daily Star.
United States Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman
warned Friday that “harsh decisions” would be taken against Lebanon if it
failed to come up with the cash.
“We expect Lebanon to completely implement its international
commitments because the STL was established upon Lebanon’s request,” Feltman
told Al-Arabiya television.
Several other countries and organizations, including the
European Union and the STL itself, have raised the idea of financial penalties
in the event that the funding deadline is missed. But what officials are saying
publicly differs to their true intentions.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who this week told the BBC that he
still expected the Cabinet to reach an agreement over funding, visited
Washington last month and met with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary
of State Hilary Clinton.
According to one March 8 official with knowledge of
behind-the-scenes talks, Clinton told Mikati that the United States would not
seek to impose sanctions on Lebanon.
The accepted international approach to the issue, according to
one senior Western diplomat, is to wield the menace of sanctions without
actually going through with them.
“No one wants to use sanctions,” the diplomat, speaking on
condition of anonymity, told The Daily Star. “The threat of sanctions is worse
than the sanctions themselves.”
Western governments are said to be uneasy with the idea of
financial restraints further destabilizing Lebanon’s security. There is some
anxiety over the possibility of sanctions pressuring Mikati’s government into
collapse, inadvertently further empowering Hezbollah.
“We don’t think it’s in the interest of the United States and
its allies in the region to impose sanctions and risk having the situation
deteriorate dramatically in Lebanon, which would lead to the further weakening
of their local allies and increase the threat to their interests,” the senior
political source said.
Even if some governments championed the idea of penalties
against Lebanon, it is thought that Russia and China would veto any Security
Council vote.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, in a recent
interview with Al-Manar television, said he was leaving the funding issue to
the Cabinet. His party has outright rejected the court, labeling it an “Israeli
project” even before four of its members were named as suspects in Prosecutor
Daniel Bellemare’s June indictment.
Mikati and Sleiman are known to be keen to force through 2011’s
court funding in order to avoid placing Lebanon in conflict with the
international community.
Under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1757, Lebanon is obliged
to meet 49 percent of the divisive tribunal’s annual running costs. It does not
specifically mention the possibility of sanctions. In September, STL President
Herman von Hebel set a deadline of 30 working days for Lebanon to provide its
share, a date set to pass later this month.
In lieu of Lebanon’s funding, the court has managed its finances
through additional provisions from donor nations.
The tribunal said Friday that it expected Lebanon to provide the
money, in spite of the prevailing disunity in the Cabinet as the deadline
approaches. STL spokesperson Marten Youssef did not rule out any course of
action.
“Both the
Lebanese prime minister and the president have expressed their commitment to
funding the tribunal and we expect these words will be translated into action.
Our intention is to officially inquire of the Lebanese government what
practical steps have been taken to follow through on their verbal commitments
and international obligation to fund the tribunal. Based on their response, the
STL will decide what action to take next,” Youssef said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2011/Nov-05/153230-sanctions-unlikely-if-lebanon-fails-to-fund-special-tribunal.ashx#axzz1d0cFSEdV
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