Now Lebanon - Fatfat addresses STL funding, September 18, 2011

Future bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat commented Sunday on Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s vow that the government would provide Lebanon’s share of funding for the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). “Mikati’s stances [on the STL] are good if they are serious because Lebanon cannot escape funding the tribunal… or else [the country] will be [in confrontation against] the international community,” he told Future News television.The PM said in remarks published September 2 that the cabinet intends to continue Lebanon’s share of financing for the tribunal.  “I am afraid that Mikati and Hezbollah have designated roles in which Mikati votes for the funding inside the cabinet and Hezbollah and its allies vote against it, and the [initiative to provide funding] collapses,” Fatfat added.The Future Movement official also slammed Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour’s stance that Lebanon will not approve any resolution against Syria in the UN Security Council.“Mansour’s stance is not surprising. He is following the Syrian position and not Lebanese public opinion,” he said.Fatfat also praised Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt’s recent positions, calling them “positive.”Jumblatt, in his weekly Tuesday article in Al-Anbaa newspaper, refused to “link Lebanon’s fate with the liberation of Shebaa Farms or with regional conflicts.” Hezbollah-led March 8 parties – which currently dominate Lebanon’s cabinet – have opposed a clause in the Lebanese annual state budget pertaining to the funding of the tribunal, which is investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.Lebanon contributes 49 percent of the STL’s annual funding.Four Hezbollah members have been indicted by the STL. However, the Shia group strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.