UN demands independent inquiry into killing of Lebanese PM

UNITED NATIONS - Lebanon's inquiry into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was seriously flawed and an independent investigation is needed to "find the truth," a UN fact-finding team says.

In what could be the most damning piece of evidence, the team's report gave credence to alleged threats made at a meeting of "physical harm" by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Hariri prior to his September 8 resignation as Lebanon's prime minister.

The report cited numerous accounts of the meeting between the two based on Hariri's statements to others. They had met to discuss extending the term of Lebanon's Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud, which Hariri and Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt opposed.

Assad was quoted as saying he "would rather break Lebanon over the heads of Hariri and Jumblatt than see his word in Lebanon broken".

In response, however, Syria's UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad said he was quite certain Assad "did not threaten physical harm".

The fact-finding mission, led by Irish Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, said Syrian military intelligence bore primary responsibility for a lack of security, protection and law and order and that and Lebanese security forces showed "systematic negligence".

"It became clear to the mission that the Lebanese investigation process suffers from serious flaws and has neither the capacity nor the commitment to reach a satisfactory and credible conclusion," Fitzgerald wrote.

The United States and France were expected to introduce a resolution in the UN Security Council calling for an international inquiry, council diplomats said.

The US State Department said the fact-finding report raised "serious and troubling allegations" and said the United States wants an independent, international commission to conduct an investigation into the matter.

"The report once again makes clear the importance of immediate and full withdrawal of all Syrian military and intelligence forces from Lebanon," State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said in a statement.

"I expect the council to support the idea that there should be an independent investigation," British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters.

Lahoud urged the United Nations to "do what's necessary to reveal the truth in the crime," the Lebanese presidential palace said in a statement.

Syria, for its part, reiterated denials that it played any role in the killing and said that Lebanese authorities were able to investigate it on their own.

But Mekhad said, "It is up to them, we don't interfere with them in their affairs."

Syria had created "a peaceful atmosphere" in Lebanon while the United States and France had caused divisions there by calling for Syria to withdraw forces in a Security Council resolution adopted last September 2, Mekdad told reporters.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said he expects Syria to complete its withdrawal before May elections in Lebanon, but while Damascus has agreed to pull out, it has yet to publicly set a timetable for its departure.

The UN Security Council ordered the fact-finding mission to the region last month to report on "the circumstances, causes and consequences of the assassination."

Hariri was killed in a February 14 bomb attack on his motorcade in Beirut. Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition and many ordinary Lebanese have pointed a finger at Syria and its local allies.

Opposition leaders had demanded an international investigation into the killing, saying they did not trust pro-Syrian Lebanese security chiefs.

The UN team said it thought the blast that killed Hariri may have been caused by a suicide bomber in a 1995 or 1996 Mitsubishi truck, carrying a TNT charge of about 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg).

Before the killing, despite widespread rumors that Hariri and Jumblatt were in danger, "none of the security services had taken additional measures to protect any of them," the UN report said.

After the killing, the security services removed some evidence from the scene and falsified or destroyed other evidence rather than secure the area, it said.

The UN mission said the consequences of the killing could be far-reaching and that "Lebanon could be caught in a possible showdown between Syria and the international community, with devastating consequences for Lebanese peace and security."

- REUTERS