UN chief arrives in Beirut for talks on Syria crisis

Beirut (dpa) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Beirut on Friday to discuss a UN-sponsored tribunal that has indicted members of the Shiite Hezbollah group, attacks on UN peacekeepers and violence in neighbouring Syria.

Ban‘s visit has caused tensions in Lebanon after a member of Hezbollah said he was not welcome.

Hezbollah is angry at the indictment of four of its members by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), which was set up to try those behind the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in a 2005 bombing, as well as other political killings.

A source close to the Shiite movement told dpa that Hezbollah ministers and parliamentarians would not meet with Ban during his three-day visit.

Hezbollah‘s political rivals have been angered by the group‘s remarks about Ban, who repeated his call on the Iran- and Syria-backed group to disarm. Hezbollah refuses to disarm, saying it needs its weapons to defend Lebanon against Israel.

"No state can be successful if it doesn‘t have full control on the use of force," Ban told the An-Nahar newspaper.

Ban will urge the Lebanese government to fully implement the UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended a 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for disarming all Lebanese militias, including Hezbollah.

The resolution expanded a UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon to 12,000 troops, who suffered three attacks last year in which French and Italian soldiers were wounded.

Ban will meet peacekeepers with the UN Interim Forces in Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) positioned along and near Lebanon‘s border with Israel.

The UN-backed STL has been a divisive topic in Lebanon. Hezbollah dropped its opposition to government funding for the tribunal last year after Sunni Prime Minister Najib Mikati threatened to resign.

Lebanon is responsible for 49 percent of the STL‘s financing, which amounted to some 32 million dollars last year. Hezbollah denies involvement in the assassination of Hariri, a Sunni billionaire backed by Saudi Arabia.

During his visit, Ban will also discuss the well-being of some 5,000 Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon.

Some Lebanese politicians fear the violence in Syria could spill over to Lebanon. The two countries share a 365-kilometre border.

"The Syrian regime has to respect the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people," Ban told An-Nahar. The UN says more than 5,000 people have been killed in the Syrian government‘s crackdown on protests that erupted in mid-March.

Ban will also attend a UN-sponsored conference on the Arab world‘s transition to democracy. dpa wh raf jln mat Author: Weedah Hamzah