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Lebanon asks UN to extend Hariri murder inquiry
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Lebanon asks UN to extend Hariri murder inquiry
Lebanon has asked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to extend for six months the mandate of an inquiry into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told Annan in a phone call on Saturday that the Lebanese government wanted the inquiry to continue for six months after its December 15 deadline, and be open to further extensions, a statement from his office said.
Lebanon?s government agreed on Thursday to ask the United Nations to continue its probe into the February 14 truck bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others, but UN diplomats said the chief investigator in the case, Detlev Mehlis, planned to leave his job by the end of the year.
Mehlis, appointed to lead the inquiry in May, plans to submit a report to the Security Council on Dec. 12, after which he will speak to the 15-nation body for the last time. The statement said Mehlis had told Siniora in a meeting last week that he intended to quit his post by the end of the year. Annan promised Siniora during the call that he would do his best to persuade the prosecutor to stay.
The United States urged Annan on Friday to persuade Mehlis to continue leading the probe into Hariri?s murder, which transformed Lebanon?s political landscape.
Mehlis? interim report in October cast suspicion on senior Syrian officials and suggested the assassination was planned by top security officials in Damascus and their Lebanese allies. Syria has denied those accusations and dismissed the Mehlis report as politically motivated.
UN investigators are due to question in Vienna today five Syrian officials, including Lt. Gen. Rustom Ghazali, the former head of military intelligence in Lebanon, in connection with the murder.
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