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Controversial UN court comes into force in Lebanon

A controversial international court to try suspects in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri came into force automatically yesterday, Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk said.

The UN Security Council on May 30 passed a resolution setting yesterday as the date on which an agreement reached last year between the UN and the Beirut government to establish the court is to enter into force.

Rizk in a statement said UN resolution 1757 contained a clause which automatically brought the court "into force" yesterday.

Five members of the UN Security Council, including veto-wielding Russia and China, abstained from the May 30 vote, objecting to a decision that bypasses Lebanon's constitutional process.

The UN ruling was also condemned by the Hezbollah as illegal and as "an aggressive interference in [Lebanon's] internal affairs."

Syria, Lebanon's former power broker, was blamed for the Hariri killing but has denied involvement.

Hariri, who was a leading opponent of Syrian domination of Lebanon, was killed along with 22 others in a massive bomb blast in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's government charges that the opposition is working at the behest of its masters in Damascus to block the court.

Yesterday's date for the entry into force of the court was set under a so-called "sunrise clause" to give the rival Lebanese sides a final chance to break their deadlock over the tribunal.

But in the absence of a domestic accord, Belgium's UN Ambassador Johan Verbeke, who chairs the Security Council this month, said on Friday: "The sunrise clause is being activated."

"This is an automatic clause so it will be entering into force automatically as of June 10," he said.
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