Lebanon: Security Council may vote on Hariri tribunal resolution Wednesday

The President of the United Nations Security Council today said the 15-member body may move Wednesday to vote on a draft resolution on a planned special tribunal to try the suspected killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Emerging from closed consultations, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad of the United States, which holds the Council’s rotating presidency, said the members had a “good discussion” on the issue.

The sponsors have decided to “go for a vote tomorrow,” he said, adding: “I believe that enough work has been done through the discussions that have taken place among the members so the decision has been made to move forward.”

Mr. Ban held talks with Lebanese leaders during a visit to the Middle East last month, and last month he dispatched his UN Legal Counsel Nicolas Michel to try to persuade the leaders to settle their differences and begin the process of parliamentary ratification. But Mr. Michel subsequently told the Council that no progress had been made.

The planned tribunal will be of “an international character” to deal with the assassination of Mr. Hariri, who was killed along with 22 others in a massive car bombing in downtown Beirut in February 2005.

If it is formally established, it would be up to the tribunal to determine whether other political killings in Lebanon since October 2004 were connected to Mr. Hariri’s assassination and could therefore be dealt with by the tribunal.