Conflicting Reports over Request Sent to Lebanon on STL Funding
Lebanon has received a formal request from the United Nations to pay its share in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday.
The daily said the request was sent to the Foreign Ministry that passed it to the Grand Serail with a timeframe not more than two or three months.
Prime Minister Najib Miqati had received at the end of September a message from U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon requesting Lebanon to pay its $33 million dues.
The newspaper noted that Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour received the request before heading to New York last month, and conveyed it to the presidency of the cabinet.
However, official sources at the Foreign Ministry denied to al-Joumhouria newspaper receiving any formal request concerning the funding of the STL.
Al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday that the Finance Ministry had received the STL funding request from the U.N.
A dispute recently rose in Lebanon on whether the March 8-dominant government would commit to funding the tribunal.
The STL had issued arrest warrants against four Hizbullah members, accusing them of being involved in Hariri’s Feb. 2005 murder.
The party has announced that it will not cooperate with the tribunal, describing it as an American-Israeli product aimed at destroying it.
President Michel Suleiman and Miqati committed themselves to the funding of the STL during their visit to New York in September.
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