BEIRUT: The government paid Wednesday its $36 million share of the annual funding for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced, averting the collapse of the Hezbollah-led March 8 government.
Political sources told The Daily Star the money came from the budget of the prime minister's office and was paid through the Higher Relief Committee.
Mikati reached the deal without any trade-offs with his March 8 allies, including no compromise over the issue of false witnesses, 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. Mikati had threatened to resign if the funding was not secured.
"This is a national decision to preserve Lebanon," he added.
In an immediate reaction the court, investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, 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.
While the Future Movement-led March 14 coalition hailed the move as a “victory to the principle of funding,” it condemned the means by which the money was paid.
March 14 “deplores the way funding has been smuggled,” the coalition said in a statement, urging the government to hand over the four suspects.
It also blasted the way a “national, justice issue has been equalized to a natural disaster.” The Higher Relief Committee has responsibility for natural calamities.
In contrast, Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party unreservedly hailed Mikati’s measure as a victory for Lebanon.
“This is an important achievement for Lebanon and for the [political] forces that make up the government ... in light of this sensitive regional moment,” PSP spokesman Rami Rayyes told The Daily Star.
Speaker Nabih Berri, a key player in efforts to find a way out of the STL funding crisis, said: “What happened is in the interest of the country.”
Both Mikati and President Michel Sleiman telephoned Berri, congratulating him on the agreement.
Commenting on 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 recovery of national dialogue among rival politicians under the auspices of 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 resolutions and reinforces confidence in Lebanon," Mikati said.
The Netherlands-based court has indicted four Hezbollah operatives in connection with Hariri's assassination, all of whom are yet to be caught.
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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