February 25, 2005

PRINCE SALMAN IBN ABDUL VISITS THE FAMILY OF FORMER LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER RAFIQ AL-HARIRI TO CONVEY HIS CONDOLENCES AND STRESSES THAT THE CRIME SHOOK EVERYONE. AL-HARIRI FAMILY PLEDGES TO PURSUE HIS NATIONAL POLITICAL LINE AND CALLS FOR AN IMMEDIATE PROBE INTO HIS ASSASSINATION. THE LEBANESE OPPOSITION CALLS FOR AN INDEPENDENCE UPRISING AND THE GOVERNMENT REGARDS THE ANNOUNCEMENT AS A COUP D'ETAT. PRESIDENT BUSH CALLS FOR AN INTERNATIONAL INQUIRY. A number of Saudi princes, Headed by Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz Governor of Riyadh region, visited the family of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri to convey their condolences on the death of Hariri in a bomb blast in Beirut. Prince Salman told reporters he expressed his condolences on behalf of the Kingdom, its leaders and people, stressing that the bombing attack "shook" them. He praised the late Premier's Arab, regional and international role, especially in Saudi Arabia. Prince Salman said the late Mr. Hariri was a son of the Kingdom, as he was the son of Lebanon. Other princes who visited Hariri's family were Asir Governor Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Saudi Ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Prince Khaled Ibn Sultan, Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs and Prince Abdul Aziz Ibn Fahd Member of the Cabinet and Chief of the Court of the Cabinet's Presidency, offered their condolences to the family and relatives of Lebanon's late former Premier Rafiq Al-Hariri in Beirut. The head of the Arab Though Foundation Prince Khaled Al-Faisal also paid his condolences to the family of the slain former Prime Minister. For his part, Saudi Ambassador to Britain Prince Turki Al-Faisal Ibn Abdul Aziz said, after paying his condolences to the Hariri family, Lebanon, Arab and Islamic countries have all shown support for the family following the assassination of Mr. Hariri. Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khaled Ibn Sultan also paid his condolences to the late Prime Minister's family. He said Mr. Hariri's was a son of the Kingdom, describing him as a loyal friend, who contributed greatly to his country. The Prince hoped for stability and unity in Lebanon. Prince Abdul Aziz Ibn Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz led a large delegation from the Kingdom and offered their condolences to the Hariri family. Prince Abdul Aziz told reporters, he called on the slain Premier's sons to pursue his path and made clear that ties with the Hariri family will remain strong. The delegation later visited the tomb of the late leader. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal attended Hariri's funeral in Beirut on Wednesday and conveyed the condolences of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah. Prince Salman was accompanied by a number of princes including Prince Saud Ibn Fahd, deputy director of intelligence, Prince Saud Ibn Naif, Saudi ambassador to Spain, and Prince Sultan Ibn Salman, secretary-general of the Supreme Commission for Tourism. Meanwhile, worshippers at the Makkah-based Grand Holy Mosque and the Madinah-based Prophet's Mosque performed prayers for the soul of Lebanon's late Premier Rafiq Al-Hariri. Following the Friday prayer, tens of thousands performed the prayer, appealing to God Almighty to forgive the deceased, bestow mercy on his soul and bless his family and close relatives. Rafiq Hariri's family has committed to staying active in Lebanon's politics, but the question is who can carry the mantle. Mourners are already declaring allegiance to the former prime minister's eldest son, Bahaa, in impromptu chants since his father's death. But those close to the family say no decision has been made on whether the young businessman will take up the role. The Hariri family also backed French and U.S. calls for a foreign-led investigation into the assassination. The family also sought to give political allies and the tens of thousands of supporters, sympathizers and benefactors the reassurance they were looking for, even as it continued to mourn and receive condolences. "We, the spouse, sons and family of Rafiq Hariri proclaim before his large Lebanese family that we will continue his national work," they said in a statement at the end of three days of national mourning. The statement stopped short of publicly anointing an heir to Hariri's political and financial empires, but on Beirut's streets, supporters are already calling for Bahaa to lead. Lebanon is three months out from national elections and the slain billionaire who has been prime minister for 10 of the years since the 1975-90 civil war had been expected to stand. Chants of "With our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Bahaa" rang out during Wednesday's funeral attended by more than 200,000 people and in hallways of the family's home. The family of the late former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri pledged to pursue his national political line and called for an immediate probe into his assassination in Beirut. In a statement, the family said, "We, the spouse, sons and family of Rafiq Hariri, proclaim and pledge before his large Lebanese family that we will continue his national work and follow in his footsteps in Lebanon and the Arab world. We will stay on his political course based on Lebanon's sovereignty, independence and national unity." The statement urged Arabs and the international community to observe a declaration by the presidency of the UN Security Council, issued on February 15. It called for unveiling the identity of the perpetrators of the car bombing, which killed the slain Premier and his companions, and punishing them within a short and reasonable time frame. "We call upon the international community to promptly take control of this issue and form an international investigation commission, since the assassination of Rafiq Hariri is a terrorist act targeting Lebanon's stability and national unity. We will not spare any effort or means to find the perpetrators of this crime no matter what their affiliation is," the statement said. The statement said the late Premier sacrificed his life for the Lebanese, Arabism, sovereignty and national unity of Lebanon. They thanked the Lebanese from all sects and regions who participated in the massive popular funeral of the late Premier, especially Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt, and all dignitaries and friends from across the region and the world, particularly French President Jacques Chirac and his family. They also hailed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for embracing the late Prime Minister, and supporting the 1989 Taif peace accord and the reconstruction of Lebanon. The family stressed that the criminal act which took away the late leaders' life will not end his legacy nor his political and social path. French President Jacques Chirac, a close Hariri friend, has also called for an international investigation, while the United Nations Security Council and the United States have demanded the Lebanese government urgently investigate the killing and bring the culprits to justice. Meanwhile Lebanon's government said that it wanted an explanation from the United Nations of its decision to appoint a commission of inquiry into the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri and hit out at France over opposition calls for an "uprising". Defence Minister Abdel Rahim Mrad said his government was poised to boycott the UN probe, a move likely to put Lebanon on a collision course with both the former mandatory power and the United States, which have demanded an independent investigation into the bombing, in which 14 other people also died. The decision to protest to the United Nations followed a meeting between Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud, Justice Minister Adnan Addoum and presidential advisor Georges Dib, a foreign ministry official said. Asked earlier if the government would work with the UN inquiry to be headed by senior Irish police officer Deputy Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, the defence minister said: "I do not think so." "This issue was proposed by the opposition and we did not agree on that," Mrad told state television, complaining that that the government had not even been notified by the world body as to the commission's terms of reference. He took particular issue with Fitgerald's appointment, saying that Beirut should have been given a veto over the choice. "This issue is up to the council of ministers and chiefly the prime minister," he said. Mrad vowed that the security forces would clamp down on any illegal demonstrations following the opposition's call for a wave of sit-ins against his government. "We will not allow any security breaches," he said. More than 40 of Lebanon's 128 MPs called on the international community Friday to back their peaceful "uprising for independence" and accused the government and in Damascus of having a hand in Hariri's assassination. Prime Minister Omar Karami struck back, saying that his government remained open to "dialogue". Premier Omar Karami accused the opposition of scheming for a coup d'etat in Lebanon and Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh threatened to crush any riots with a "security iron fist." Both spoke to reporters after the first session of the cabinet after ex-Premier Hariri's assassination. They were retorting to the opposition declaration of an armed 'independence uprising' to expel the Syrian army from Lebanon, which was coupled by calls from Gen. Aoun's supporters for a civil disobedience mutiny. The first Cabinet fallout since Hariri's assassination was the resignation of Tourism Minister Farid Khazen, saying the government was not capable of running the country at this crucial stage. Karami was quick at the cabinet session to name a replacement to Farid from the same prominent Maronite family, Wadih Khazen, who is, however, not closely related to his predecessor. "Any minister who resigns will be promptly replaced," Karami said, signaling the government's determination to head off a potential chain of resignations designed to topple his government. Shortly afterward, about 1,000 opposition supporters staged an anti-Syria rally in front of parliament, a few blocks from Hariri's grave. They carried placards reading "Syrians out now" and chanted anti-Syrian slogans. Security forces watched but did not interfere, and the protesters dispersed peacefully. Hariri's grave at the courtyard of Al Amin mosque in downtown Beirut has become virtually a place of pilgrimage for mourners flocking in from all over the country. Muslim Sheikhs stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Maronite and Greek Orthodox nuns, paying homage in a spontaneous show of unity never seen since the 1990 end of the civil war. Information Minister Elie Firzli accused French President Jacques Chirac, who attended Hariri's private funeral, of having a direct hand in the opposition's campaign. "Chirac made himself a direct party to lead the battle on the Lebanese scene," Firzli charged. Mrad lashed out at a French government advisory warning nationals against all non-essential travel to Lebanon in a new blow to the fledgling recovery of its tourism industry. "We regret this extremist position and hope that it will not last long." Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese turned out for Hariri's funeral and the opposition has mounted daily protests accusing Syria of being behind the killing and demanding that its 14,000 troops go home. The youth wings of the main opposition parties called for a new mass rally at the bomb scene on the Beirut seafront on Monday. Both France and the United States, which co-sponsored a UN Security Council resolution last September demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon, have called for a UN inquiry into Hariri's death. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is sending a team to Beirut within the next few days following a request of the Security Council that he report urgently on the circumstances, causes and consequences of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's murder, Mr. Annan's spokesman announced. The team will be led by Peter Fitzgerald, a Deputy Police Commissioner of the Irish national police force, known as the Garda Síochána. It will consist of staff with relevant expertise. The team will make contact with Lebanese officials and others to gather such information as necessary for the Secretary-General to report to the Council in a timely manner, the spokesman said in a statement. The following statement was announced at the UN: The Secretary-General is sending a team to Beirut within the next few days pursuant to the request of the Security Council that he urgently report on the circumstances, causes and consequences of the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The team will be led by Mr. Peter Fitzgerald, a Deputy Police Commissioner of the Garda Sيochلna (Irish national police force). It will consist of staff with relevant expertise. The team will make contact with Lebanese officials and others to gather such information as necessary for the Secretary-General to report to the Council in a timely manner. On the other hand President George W. Bush renewed his warning to Syria saying: First, we support the international investigation that is -- will be going on to determine the killers of Mr. Hariri. We've recalled our ambassador, which indicates that the relationship is not moving forward, that Syria is out of step with the progress being made in a greater Middle East, that democracy is on the move. And this is a country that isn't moving with the democratic movementWe expect them to adhere to 1559 -- U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the removal of troops from Lebanon. And we expect them to help free and fair elections to take place in Lebanon. Asked if he believed that Syria bears some responsibility for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, Bush said: I can't tell you that. I don't know yet, because the investigation is ongoing. And so I'm going to withhold judgment until we find out what the facts are. Hopefully by the time I get overseas, we'll have a clearer understanding of who killed Mr. Hariri, and it will be an opportune time to talk with our friends, to determine what to do about it. But it's important that this investigation go on in a thoughtful way, and I'm convinced it will. We supported the international investigation. The President added that there's a need for us to work together to convince the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon. And we will work with Europeans and the Israelis to develop a strategy and a plan that is effective. And that's one of the reasons I'm going to Europe. From her side the US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said: We're not trying to isolate Syria. What we're trying to do is to get Syria to engage in more responsible behavior. And that responsible behavior includes agreeing to investigation, to participate in investigation of what happened to Prime Minister Hariri. It includes working against the insurgency that has some operations out of Syria that are, indeed, endangering Iraqi stability. And it means stopping its support for terrorism, which endangers the very peace process in which we are all -- hope to be engaged between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Nevertheless, the Pentagon has determined that Syria has been used as a base to finance and supply the insurgency war in Iraq. "Syria has not been helpful," Rumsfeld said. "There is no doubt that the Baathists are located in Syria, from Iraq." "No one predicted the level of the insurgency as it is today," Rumsfeld said "Partly it's a function of money. Partly it's a function of what the Syrians and the Iranians are doing." Meanwhile a Lebanese Cabinet minister resigned amid mounting public calls for the entire pro-Syrian government to stand down following the killing of former billionaire Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Lebanon's anti-Syria opposition has accused the government and Damascus of having a hand in the massive bomb blast that killed Hariri and 14 other people. The assassination recalled the dark days of the 1975-1990 civil war and raised tensions with Syria. Tourism Minister Farid Al-Khazen announced his resignation as life in Lebanon gradually returned to normal after a three-day mourning period for Hariri, with shops, banks and financial markets open again for business. "The current government is incapable of resolving the dangerous situation in the country," said Khazen, considered loyal to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud. His decision came as the opposition was meeting to try to rally a mass public mobilization against the government after the killing of Hariri, a five-time prime minister and a billionaire tycoon who led the country's post-war rebuilding. The Lebanese opposition blames the Beirut government and Damascus for the murder of Hariri, who quit in October in a row with Lahoud over Syria's influence. "The regime ... should take the political initiative of opening up to the opposition by declaring its readiness to meet its demand in forming a special government to run and supervise the legislative elections (due in May)," said prominent former Prime Minister Salim Hoss. Hariri's funeral turned into a mass rally against the regimes in Lebanon and Syria, which has 14,000 troops in its smaller neighbour and pulls the strings in the corridors of power. Leading Druze opposition figure Walid Jumblatt also delivered a virulent attack on the regime, pledging that "the day will come when we will sweep away the dirt of this criminal, collaborating regime, a regime of terrorism." Hariri's sons have pledged to take on the political and charitable mantle of their slain father. Oman's Minister of Legal Affairs Mohammed bin Ali al-Alwi, the Sultanate's Tourism Minister Rajiha bin Abdel Amir, and Oman's Ambassador to Lebanon Amer bin Hamed al-Hojari offered their condolences to the family of the assassinated former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in Koreitem, on behalf of Sultan Qaboos bin Saeed. They praised the slain leader. Minister Al-Alwi said Mr. Hariri was among the most prominent Arab leaders who was leading Lebanon, following the Taif peace accord, politically and economically, and had been leading reconstruction efforts. Meanwhile the opposition parties in Lebanon declared an "uprising for independence" and called for the pro-Syrian government to step down so that a new government can be formed to oversee a Syrian military pullout. This escalated a war of words following former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri's assassination. Lebanese opposition leader Samir Frangieh said: "In response to the criminal and terrorist policy of the Lebanese and Syrian authorities, the Lebanese opposition declares the democratic and peaceful intifada (uprising) for independence." "We demand the departure of the illegitimate regime," Frangieh said, reading a final statement at the home of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt after an opposition meeting in a Beirut hotel. Jumblatt did not attend the meeting for "security reasons," aides said. The meeting was attended by more than 40 of the Parliament's 128 members, as well as dozens of political activists. The opposition called for "the formation of an interim government as a supreme national necessity to protect the Lebanese people and ensure the immediate and complete pullout of Syrian forces from Lebanon ahead of free and honest legislative elections." They also declared "the suspension of any political or legal debate in Parliament before the truth is uncovered." "We call on Parliament ... to hold a plenary session to discuss the series of assassinations which started with the attempt on Marwan Hamadeh, with the martyrdom of Rafiq Hariri and the targeting of former minister (Basil) Fleyhan" in the same blast that killed Hariri. Hamadeh, an MP and deputy to Jumblatt, was unsuccessfully targeted in October. Jumblatt himself received a veiled death threat earlier this month from the Lebanese branch of Syria's ruling Baath party. Lebanon's anti-Syria opposition has accused the government and its political masters in Damascus of having a hand in the massive bomb blast that killed Hariri and 16 others. Hariri's killing sparked anti-Syrian fury among many Lebanese and renewed world pressure on Damascus to loosen its political grip and remove its troops from Lebanon. Lebanese opposition leader Walid Jumblatt said that assassinated former Premier Rafik Hariri had hinted to him that he may be killed days before his assassination. Jumblatt said he had had a meeting with Hariri two weeks ago. Jumblatt said: "Hariri told me something was going to happen and that it is either for you or for me." His comments marked a sharp escalation of his war of words with Damascus and the Lebanese government in which he directly blamed Syrian intelligence for the assassination. He added that the huge funeral procession for Hariri showed that Lebanese people have now come together with one voice against Syrian interference in their affairs. Jumblatt said: "He got killed, and we are all on the list. There is no immunity." He added: "The problem is that if you say no in politics you get killed. There is no dialogue." Commenting on the huge turnout for Hariri's funeral Jumblatt said: "They managed to hit the strongest chain of the opposition. But what they did not know, what the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence did not know is that they would unite the whole country against them." During an interview carried by the Hariri owned television channel Al-Mustaqbal Jumblatt said Hariri's support for UN Resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, was the main factor in his murder. Tourism Minister Farid Al-Khazen a Maronite Christian, became the first minister to quit because of the assassination and said he had done so because the Syrian-backed government was unable to "remedy the dangerous situation in the country. "There is no substitute for national dialogue on the basis of the Taif agreement," he said, referring to the deal that ended the 1975-1990 civil war and committed Syria to moving the troops it keeps in Lebanon to the eastern Bekaa Valley. Lebanese President Emile Lahoud visited the house of the late former prime minister Rafiq Hariri to pay his condolences. The family of Hariri, had asked the Lebanese government to stay away from the funeral. "We condemn this big crime that has hit Lebanon and the Arab world ... this is a great loss for everybody," Lahoud said after paying his condolences to Hariri's family. The president stressed that "the investigations are continuing to reveal the culprits who planned and committed this crime against the martyr of Lebanon and his friends."