The United Nations approved an agreement with the Lebanese
government to establish an international tribunal to prosecute the
assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the
Organization said Tuesday in a statement.
The accord was earlier signed in Beirut by the Director-General
of the Ministry of Justice on behalf of the Lebanese government,
the statement said.
"It is up to the competent Lebanese authorities to take the
steps necessary under the Lebanese Constitution for the approval
and ratification of the agreement, to allow it to enter into
force," the statement said, adding that "the tribunal could then be
made operational with the full support of the United Nations."
The UN Security Council approved in November the creation of the
special tribunal that would try those alleged to be responsible for
the suicide bomb attack in February, 2005 in Beirut which killed
Hariri and 22 others.
(Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2007)
