AP News, June 19th, 2007
The U.N. Security Council has given a green light to U.N. investigators to help probe last week's killing of an anti-Syrian lawmaker in a massive car bombing in Beirut.
Belgium's U.N. Ambassador Johan Verbeke, who is the current council president, asked Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a letter circulated Monday to inform the Lebanese government and the U.N. commission investigating the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri of its approval.
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sent a letter to Ban last Thursday asking the International Independent Investigation Commission to provide technical assistance to the Lebanese investigation into last Wednesday's "heinous terrorist act" that killed lawmaker Walid Eido, his son, two bodyguards and six bystanders.
In his letter informing Ban of the council's approval, Verbeke said the Security Council is "determined to continue to assist the government of Lebanon in the search for the truth and to bring to justice perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of that terrorist attacks and assassinations committed in Lebanon since October 2004."
The council asked the commission "to extend appropriate technical assistance to the Lebanese authorities in the investigation" of Eido's killing.
Eido's assassination was a further blow to the stability of the small Mediterranean nation, which has been mired in a political power struggle between the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, supported by Syria.
Eido was a close friend of Hariri, who was killed in massive bombing in Beirut in February 2005 along with 22 others. Eido also was a political ally of Hariri's son, Saad, who now leads the anti-Syrian majority in the Lebanese parliament. Five other anti-Syrian figures also have been assassinated the past two years.
Many in Lebanon blame Syria for the killings, but Syria denies any involvement.
The chief investigator of the U.N. commission probing Hariri's assassination, Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, on Friday visited the scene of the bombing that killed Eido near Beirut's popular seafront promenade. A team of U.N. experts was expected in Beirut soon to survey the bombing site and collect clues on the circumstances of the blast.
The commission is also providing technical assistance to Lebanese authorities in 16 other cases, including the November assassination of Lebanese Cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel.
