The visiting foreign minister of France said on Thursday that the international community was determined to set up an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "France, along with the international community, is determined to establish the tribunal to try the assassins," Bernard Kouchner told a news conference at the Grand Serail. On Thursday, Kouchner met Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Speaker Nabih Berri, parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani. Kouchner concluded his first day in Lebanon by visiting Hariri's grave.
"In addition to pressing for the formation of the international tribunal, France is keen on having UN Resolution 1701 fully implemented and we are also thinking of increasing the number of French soldiers operating as part of the UNIFIL troops in Lebanon." Resolution 1701, which marked the end of the summer 2006 war with Israel, calls for the disarmament of militias and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon, among other provisions. Asked how Sarkozy's Lebanon policy might differ from that of his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, Kouchner said that Sarkozy and Chirac had "two different mentalities" and came from "two different generations." |