 Lebanon says it plans to ask the UN Security Council to extend the mandate of an inquiry into the killing of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri by six months.
| Gonna make it harder for Baby Assad to run out the clock... |
But UN diplomats in New York said on Thursday the UN's chief investigator into al-Hariri's killing, Detlev Mehlis, planned to leave the job by the end of the year.
| Either he doesn't want to be bumped off himself — and he doesn't strike me that way — or his got his case put together already and he's just filling in the blanks. |
He had been appointed in May to lead the inquiry into the 14 February truck bombing which killed the former prime minister in Beirut. Mehlis intends to submit a report to the Security Council on 12 December, after which he will speak to the 15-nation body as his last official UN task, Council diplomats said. Ibrahim Gambari, the UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, had said he expected the investigation to continue but that Mehlis may hand over the work to someone else.
"Legume, you may complete the paperwork. Call me if you need anything."
"Where will you be, chief?"
"Tahiti, I think..." |
| Certainly somewhere with a really good shower. |
| And no freshly-repaired potholes in the road ... |
"The government agreed to ask the United Nations to extend the mandate of the inquiry for six months," Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr said after a weekly cabinet session. But the government failed to agree on calling for an international trial for any suspects, with pro-Syrian Shia Muslim ministers firmly opposing any such move.
| Comes as a surprise, huh? I know. Floored me, too. |
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.
| Say! How's that independent investigation in Damascus going? |
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