LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
FEBRUARY 26/2006

Below News From Miscellaneous Sources for 26/2/06
Lebanon refuses to extradite Hezbollah suspects to the US-DPA 26.2.06
March 14 Alliance To Participate in Dialogue But Still Determined to Oust Lahoud-Naharnet
Anti-Syria Legislators Launch Campaign to Gather 1 Million Signatures-Naharnet
Judiciary to Investigate Al-Mustaqbal Newspaper for Slandering Lahoud-Naharnet
Rice Aims for Arab Initiative to Convince Syria to Oust Lahoud-Naharnet
Lebanon Sinks into Political Turmoil after Anti-Lahoud Ministerial Walkout-Naharnet
Lahoud Slams Future TV for Beaming Live 'Repugnant Language' by Ministers-Naharnet

European MP to explore areas still occupied by Syria in Lebanon Sunday
 Beirut, February 25, 2006. Mideast Newswire
 At the invitation of the "International Lebanese Committee for the Implementation of UNSCR 1559" (INGO launched last fall), a leading member of the European Parliament has started a visit to Lebanon to monitor the remnant of the Syrian occupation, according to the Committee.
 MP Paulo Casaca, from the Socialist Group and Chairman of the NATO delegation to the European Parliament has started a short visit to Lebanon this Week End. His first meeting was with Prime Minister Fouad Seniora in Beirut: M Casaca was accompanied by Lebanese MP Abdallah Hanna, Toni Nissi, coordinator of the Committee 1559 in Lebanon and members of the Committee. Prime Minister Seniora thanked MP Casaca for his interest in Lebanon's sovereignty. Casaca told Seniora the European Parliament is concerned about the implementation of the said resolution. He added that the international community is committed to the following:
 
The investigation in the Hariri assassination and the establishment of an international court.
Supporting the Cedars Revolution and its goals
Supporting the Lebanese Government in its attempts to implement the UNSCR 1559 and the goals of the Cedars Revolution.
Supporting the Lebanese Army
Supporting the Lebanese security forces under the auspices of the Lebanese Government
Insuring the protection of the Lebanese-Syrian borders and investigating the remnants of the Syrian military and security presence on Lebanese territories
Devising a strategy to disarm all remaining militias in Lebanon
 MP Casaca met also with Socialist leader MP Walid Joumblat in Mukhtara. Joumblat reiterated the call for the resignation of Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and asked the international community to provide protection to Lebanon's civil society. After the meeting, the Casaca delegation visited the Hizbollah-dominated areas in south Lebanon and the Lebanese-Israeli borders. He met with Lebanese NGOs and municipalities leaders in the town of Jezzine.
 On Sunday, MP Casaca and his delegation will be visiting the Lebanese-Syrian borders to explore some areas said to be still under Syrian occupation. He will then visit the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir before he meets with political activists and the representatives of the Cedars Revolution as well as Lebanese MPs.

 

Lebanon refuses to extradite Hezbollah suspects to the US
(DPA)25 February 2006 -BEIRUT - Lebanon has refused to extradite to the United States four suspected Shia Hezbollah members believed to have carried out attacks against Americans in Beirut during the 1980s, judicial sources said on Saturday.
They said Lebanese authorities refused to extradite four Lebanese: Imad Moughaniyeh, Hassan Ezzeddine, Ali Atwe and Mohammed ali Hamadeh. Local media said that during her visit to Beirut earlier this week US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had made the demand to Prime Minister Foaud Seniora. Three of the four wanted Lebanese - Moughaniyeh, Ezzeddine and Atwe - are accused of participation in a 1983 attack on US Marines headquarter in Beirut in which more than 100 Marines were killed. The fourth Mohammed Hamadeh, who returned to Lebanon in December after he finished serving his jail sentence in Germany for possessing explosives, is accused by the United States of the 1985 highjacking of a TWA airliner during which a US Navy diver was killed. Authorities have also rejected a US request to hand over Wassef Hassoun, an American of Lebanese origin who deserted the Marines in 2004 and left Iraq for Lebanon and then left the southern port city of Tripoli for the US. It was reported later that Hassoun has left the US and headed back to Lebanon. The judicial sources said the general amnesty law which was adopted in 1991 after the 1975-1990 civil war ended in Lebanon covered incidents of which the four were accused. As for Hassoun, the sources gave no reason for rejecting his extradition.

Hosni Mubarak to Visit Syria for Talks With President al-Assad
Damascus - Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is set to vist Damascus next week for talks with his Syrian counterpart Basher al-Assad, according to Syrian government sources.
The talks will focus on how Syria should respond to a United Nations request that it co-operate with an investigation on the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. Mubarak and al-Assad are expected to discuss measures that will satisfy both the UN and the Syrian government, some of whose top officials have been implicated in the 14 February 2005 killing of Hariri and 20 others in Beirut. Egypt along with several other Arab states, including Qatar - whose foreign minister Hamad bin Jasim Al Sheykh recently visited Damascus - is trying to persuade Syria to cooperate with the UN commission while at the same time attempting to find a face-saving strategy for Damascus.

Advisor to Sudan President: U.S. targets Syria to Achieve own interests in the Region
Saturday, February 25, 2006 - 11:05 PM
Beirut (SANA)-
Sudanese President's Advisor Dr. Mustafa Osman Ismail stressed that the U.S. has a special agenda for the Middle East and wants to isolate Syria to force abandon her national and pan-Arab stances.
Dr. Ismail told a news conference on Saturday in Beirut on the sidelines of his visit to Lebanon that the U.S. doesn’t want to reveal the truth behind the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. He also stressed importance of a strong relation between Syria and Lebanon, saying that any siege or sanctions on Syria will affect Lebanon.

March 14 Alliance To Participate in Dialogue But Still Determined to Oust Lahoud
Naharnet: The anti-Syria coalition has expressed willingness to participate in a national dialogue to solve the country's political crisis, but not at the expense of its drive to oust President Emile Lahoud from power. An Nahar newspaper Saturday quoted sources in the March 14 alliance as saying that the group is inclined to accept Speaker Nabih Berri's invitation for the roundtable discussion. However, the coalition is still determined to remove the staunchly pro-Syrian president from power, the sources added. Berri, who has designated March 2 as the date to start the dialogue, has said he would not postpone the meeting until after Lahoud's removal, as some members of the anti-Syria majority have requested.
"Dialogue will not be postponed one day or even one hour because if it is postponed it will become useless," Berri said in an interview with Reuters published in the Lebanese media. The speaker said that if dialogue is put off until after the presidential crisis is solved, it will become insignificant and should be cancelled. He explained that if there are presidential elections, a cabinet of national unity will be formed and then dialogue would be held inside the government. However, the Speaker said he did not believe Lahoud's removal was guaranteed yet. "If people think that the issue of the presidency has been solved, I don't see it as such," Berri said. The speaker is trying to secure the participation of a wide range of political groups and has called for top level representation that would include party leaders or the heads of parliamentary blocs.
The issues on the agenda are those that have plagued the Lebanese political scene since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. They include the U.N. investigation of the murder, relations between Lebanon and Syria and U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 that stipulates disarmament of all militias in the country.
An Nahar said Druze leader Walid Jumblat, who had so far expressed reluctance to participate, has accepted to take part. Jumblat, a main pillar of the March 14 alliance, has been at the helm of the drive to depose Lahoud. However, in a statement to al Mustaqbal newspaper, Jumblat said he would only join in the meeting if it is aimed at ending the country's crisis. He expressed reservations about the uneven participation of some blocs in the meeting and the fact that it would not be presided over by anyone. "We will discuss all these issues before the meeting and we will insist that the first clause in the dialogue should be the implementation of the first article of Resolution 1559," Jumblat said in reference to the holding of free and fair presidential elections in Lebanon. The Druze leader said that Syria will never allow any constructive dialogue in Lebanon to take place because it is in its interest to keep the country in a state of crisis. "The Syrian regime will resort to the devil and nothing can stop it," Jumblat said. Syria imposed the extension of Lahoud's term in 2004 when it forced members of parliament to amend the constitution to allow the president to stay in power for three more years. Beirut, Updated 25 Feb 06, 12:37

Anti-Syria Legislators Launch Campaign to Gather 1 Million Signatures
Naharnet: A petition calling on President Emile Lahoud to resign was signed by several anti-Syria legislators Friday as they launched a campaign to gather one million signatures. Future Movement MPs were among the first to sign the petition at downtown Beirut's Martyrs' Square or Freedom Square where one million demonstrators gathered on March 14 last year to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. The anti-Syria coalition has announced a plan to topple Lahoud, setting the first anniversary of the historic demonstration of March 14 as a deadline for the pro-Syrian president to step down.
The petition expresses the people's willingness to hold onto their freedom and independence. It calls on Lahoud to resign and demands an end to constitutional violations and the forceful extension of the president's term. Lahoud rejects the notion of abdication and vows to serve out the Syrian-dictated extension of his term through Nov. 2007. Another two petitions are circulating in parliament to invalidate the legitimacy of Lahoud and eventually remove him from office.
One petition, which has so far gathered 14 signatures, states that legislators were pressured by Syria to vote in favor of the amendment of the constitution in September 2004, extending Lahoud's term for another three years.
Based on the testimonies of those legislators, the other petition demands the abolishment of the mandate's extension, because Syria had coerced the Lebanese members of parliament into approving the constitution's amendment. Beirut, Updated 25 Feb 06, 11:21

Judiciary to Investigate Al-Mustaqbal Newspaper for Slandering Lahoud
Naharnet: The judiciary has started legal procedures against Al-Mustaqbal newspaper and those who appeared on Future TV for slandering President Emile Lahoud, a Justice Ministry statement has said.
The statement published in newspaper Saturday said that Prosecutor General Said Mirza opened investigations into two cases.
The first one involves an article published Friday in the Hariri-owned newspaper by columnist and talk show host Fares Khashan. In the article, entitled "Johny Abdo tells us about Emile Lahoud," the journalist interviews Abdo, who has held the posts of ambassador to France and intelligence chief.
In the article, Abdo said Lahoud has agreed to become a "commodity put up for auction by allies who are selling him at a price convenient to them." He also accused the head of state of corrupting politicians by showering them with gifts.
The justice ministry said Mirza has called Abdo and Khashan in for questioning on Monday. However, both are currently abroad according to An Nahar newspaper.
The statement said Mirza opened the case against the two "in view of the information and terms included in the article that harm the president."
The other case involves supporters of the March 14 alliance who used abusive language against the president in footage broadcast by Future TV. On Thursday, the Hariri-owned station showed anti-Syria politicians and their supporters calling on Lahoud to vacate his post.
Lahoud was distressed by the language used and called the speeches "repugnant."
The ministry statement said that Mirza decided to pursue all those involved in the attack on the president after viewing the tape and hearing the "dishonorable, repulsive and insulting" language used against the president.
The proceedings do not include the politicians who slammed the president as they enjoy parliamentary and ministerial immunity.
Beirut, 25 Feb 06, 13:38