Friday, February 17, 2006

Rice says U.N. must push Syria on Hariri inquiry

Top News Article | Reuters.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will push the U.N. Security Council to give details on Syria's cooperation with a U.N. inquiry into the murder of Lebanon's former premier, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday.

Rice told lawmakers she did not think Syria had cooperated with the U.N. investigation into Last February's murder of Rafik al-Hariri and something must be done about this.

"We will need, I really do believe, to go back to the Security Council at some time in the not-too-distant future to get a report on what is happening with Syrian cooperation," Rice told the House of Representatives International Relations Committee.

Syria has repeatedly denied a role in the killing of Hariri in a truck bombing in Beirut. A U.N. inquiry has implicated senior Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies.

Syria promised full cooperation after a U.N. Security Council resolution in October demanded that it cooperate with the investigation or face unspecified further action.

Damascus has allowed U.N. investigators to question some Syrian officials but has turned down a request to talk to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Last month, Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz took over the U.N. investigation from Germany's Detlev Mehlis who had led the probe since June.

Rice said it had taken time for Brammertz to find his feet, and that those who had met the new investigator described him as "serious, tough-minded."

"We are going to need to really re-energize that (the inquiry). And I think once we've given investigator Brammertz a little time to get up to speed, we'd probably want to go back to the Security Council," Rice said.

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