U.N. Extends Hariri Inquiry

The Security Council on Thursday extended a U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, while a Belgian war crimes investigator emerged as the leading candidate to take over the controversial inquiry.

The resolution, adopted unanimously by the Security Council, also authorizes the U.N. investigative team to provide “technical assistance” to Lebanese authorities in their inquiry into other political killings since October 2004, including Monday’s slaying of publisher and politician Gibran Tueni. The Lebanese president had asked the U.N. team to expand the inquiry to include those attacks, and to create an international tribunal to try suspects. Instead, the council requested that Secretary-General Kofi Annan work with the Lebanese government to identify the appropriate next steps on those issues.

Serge Brammertz, deputy prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, met with the secretary-general to discuss taking over the job from German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who will finish his six-month term as chief investigator Jan. 1.

Brammertz is now overseeing investigation of war crimes in Congo and northern Uganda for the Hague-based tribunal, and would have to be released from his duties by the ICC’s chief prosecutor and a group of nations that founded the court, diplomats said.

The former president of that group, Jordanian Ambassador Prince Zeid Raad Hussein, lauded Brammertz as “among the very best prosecutors and investigators that exist in the world today,” and said his potential selection was a vote of confidence in the competence of the world court.

“That the ICC is the repository of such expertise says volumes about the quality of the court itself,” Hussein said.

The United States, which is a strong backer of the Hariri investigation but opposed the founding of the ICC, does not have a problem with a candidate based there, said U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton.

“I’m not going to comment on specific individuals or names that are floating,” said Bolton, who has been one of the most vocal critics of the world court. “What I will say is that a person’s entire career and qualifications should be taken into consideration.”

Brammertz has had long experience in Belgium investigating cross-border organized crime, human trafficking and narcotics smuggling, and worked with international tribunals as part of the Belgian National Magistrate’s office.

Mehlis has concluded that senior Syrian and Lebanese officials were involved in Hariri’s killing, and has been widely praised for his tenacity and professionalism.

But during his six months leading the investigation, Mehlis encountered obstacles from Syrian authorities and received numerous death threats. He declined to extend his tenure even under polite pressure from Washington. Brammertz, if he accepts, is likely to commit only to a six-month term because of his ICC duties, Zeid said.

Mehlis’ successor will have to determine who ordered the assassination and provide evidence for a prosecution.

The next phase of the investigation will be particularly sensitive, because some of the suspects identified by Mehlis are members of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s inner circle. The president has denied Syrian involvement in the assassination and has pledged to punish anyone “proven guilty” in the crime -- a move that has its own political risks for his fragile hold on power.

Annan acknowledged that filling the job was a difficult task. Another Belgian prosecutor, Damien Van der Meersch, turned down an offer last week, as have other candidates. Annan said he hoped to make an announcement “fairly shortly,” after firming up arrangements to secure the candidate’s service.

“Somebody was asking, ‘Why is it taking you so long?’ ” Annan said Thursday. “And I said, ‘The kinds of people we need are not standing on the corner of 1st Avenue and 42nd looking for a job and they just rush across when they get it.’ ”

The resolution adopted Thursday had faced some resistance, mainly from Russia, as well as China and Algeria, but won all 15 members’ votes. “The resolution will help boost the investigation,” said Algerian Ambassador Abdallah Baali, who sometimes represents Syrian interests before the council. “And that is the main thing we wanted to see.”