Lebanonwire.com | UN envoy holds Syrian pullout talks in Beirut

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April 4, 2005

UN envoy holds Syrian pullout talks in Beirut

BEIRUT, Lebanon - UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen opened talks Monday with Lebanese officials on Syria's troop withdrawal after Damascus promised that its last soldier would be out by the end of April.

After a meeting with outgoing Foreign Minister Mahmud Hamoud, he voiced confidence his Beirut mission would produce "satisfactory results" and he would be able to give a positive report to the UN Security Council.

The envoy, kicking off a series of meetings with Lebanese political and military leaders on a mission running until Wednesday, hailed what he called his "excellent" talks Sunday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Roed-Larsen was to discuss the sending of a team of UN experts to verify the full withdrawal of Syrian troops and intelligence assets.

A Western diplomatic source told AFP that the special envoy would also insist on elections in Lebanon taking place on schedule by May 31 when the mandate of the current parliament runs out.

With the United Nations playing an increasingly prominent role in Lebanon, the other item on the envoy's agenda was a planned UN commission of inquiry into the February 14 murder of former premier Rafiq Hariri.

Roed-Larsen announced in Damascus after his talks with Assad that Syria had pledged to complete its troop withdrawal by the end of this month, after a deployment of almost 30 years.

Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara "informed me that all Syrian troops, military assets and the intelligence apparatus will have withdrawn fully and completely latest by April 30", he said.

"The government of Syria has agreed with me that, subject to acceptance by the Lebanese authorities, a verification team will be dispatched in order to verify the full Syrian withdrawal," he added.

Roed-Larsen said the completion of the withdrawal would be "consistent with" Resolution 1559, passed last September, that calls for all foreign troops to quit Lebanon.

Syria first deployed troops in Lebanon 29 years ago as a buffer force during the early stages of the 1975-1990 civil war.

Shara also emphasized that Syria supported the "holding of elections on the planned date" as demanded by the anti-Syrian opposition in Lebanon which blames Damascus for Hariri's assassination.

The timing of elections has been cast into doubt with Lebanon plunged into its worst political crisis since the war. The country has been left without a government for more than a month since Hariri's assassination.