Report: U.N., EU Measures Against Lebanon if it Fails to Fund STL
The U.N. Security Council and the European Union will take “measures” against Lebanon if Lebanon doesn’t fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, sources close to French decision-makers warned.
The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Sunday that Lebanon’s rejection to pay its 49 percent share would lead to a “troubling situation that would force the international community to take measures … at the level of the Security Council and the EU.”
Lebanon is obliged to commit to Security Council resolution 1757 that established the court in 2007, they said.
According to the sources, President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati have expressed Lebanon’s respect for its international obligations “because they are aware that this issue has consequences that go beyond the international tribunal.”
“It is a matter of credibility for the Lebanese government,” they said.
The sources said France is keen on keeping the situation in Lebanon calm although it is aware that Syria could destabilize the country if it is targeted.
On the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, the sources told al-Hayat that Lebanese security and military authorities were making strong efforts to secure the safety of peacekeepers.
The letter that French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent to Lebanon “was useful because the Lebanese Armed Forces were clearly consolidated in the South,” they said.
The sources were referring to a letter sent by Sarkozy to Suleiman and Miqati warning of the possibility that France would withdraw its troops from UNIFIL if they were to suffer another attack.
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