Mansour to Libya on Jan. 12: I Will Stay There until Sadr Case is Resolved

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour is expected to travel to Libya on January 12 in order hold talks with various officials on the disappearance of Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr.

He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Friday: “I will stay there for several days until the case is resolved.”

He added that he has high hopes from the mission.

This is the first visit of this kind by a Lebanese official since Sadr’s disappearance in 1978, reported the daily.

It added that President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati had brought up this issue before the head of the Libyan National Transitional Council Mustapha Abdul Jalil during their trip to New York in September.

A Libyan security-judicial committee had been formed in order to tackle Sadr’s disappearance.

Masnour will be accompanied by Judge Hasan al-Shami, Sadr’s son Sadreddine al-Sadr, and Sheikh Mohammed Yacoub’s son Ali.

They will be joined in Libya by the Director of Economic Affairs at the Lebanese Foreign Ministry Ambassador Mustapha Hamdan and Lebanon’s Charges d’Affaires in Libya Nazih Ashour.

Sadr vanished, amid mysterious circumstances and was last seen in Libya where he was invited by slain Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

At the time, Sadr was trying to negotiate an end to the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), in which Palestinian factions were involved.

Gadhafi was believed to be shipping weapons to the Palestinians and other groups and Sadr, according to reports, was hoping to convince the Libyan leader to refrain from stoking the unrest in Lebanon.

But his visit to Tripoli along with two aides, Mohammed Yacoub and Abbas Badreddine, took a sour turn after he got into a heated argument with Gadhafi who ordered that the three men be "taken away," according to an indictment against the Libyan leader issued by Lebanese authorities.

Libyan authorities have stated that the three officials left Tripoli to Italy, who after conducting an investigation in the matter denied the claims.

In 2004, the passports of Sadr and Yacoub were found in a hotel in Rome.

In August 2008, Lebanon issued arrest warrants against Gadhafi and some of his aides, accusing them of kidnapping Sadr and his companions.

Relations between Libya and Lebanon have been at a low point since the cleric's disappearance, which dealt a heavy blow to the Shiite community.