Lebanonwire.com | UN says will examine Syria's claim on Lebanon pullout

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April 27, 2005

UN says will examine Syria's claim on Lebanon pullout
by Marc Carnegie

UNITED NATIONS, April 26 (AFP) - The United Nations on Tuesday said it would await verification that Syria has pulled out of Lebanon, while acknowledging that other moves demanded by the Security Council have not yet
taken place.

In a report released hours after Syria declared its 29-year troop presence in Lebanon was over, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said the claim would be tested by a team of military experts who arrived in Damascus on Tuesday.

The team "will report to me and complete its work as soon as possible," Annan said, adding that no progress had been made on other key provisions of Security Council Resolution 1559.

That measure, steered through the council by France and the United States in September, demanded the withdrawal of all foreign forces and the disbanding of militias such as Hezbollah, and called for free and fair Lebanese elections.

Calling Syria's claimed pullout "an open question which we can't take a stand on," a senior UN official who asked not to be named said the verification team would update Annan within a week.

"They were asked to report back to the secretary general in a week's time assessing the practical difficulties, if any, they will meet. And we will then on that basis decided on how to proceed," the official said.

"What the verification team will ask Syria to do is to give us a complete overview of the locations of all Syrian forces, including the intelligence forces, with precise locations," he said. They would then check the sites.

"The implementation of this resolution would be very significant, not only for the region but also for the UN as an organisation," the official said.

In his report, Annan said he had been told that some Syrian intelligence forces -- who played a crucial role in Syria's long years of control over its smaller neighbour -- had stayed behind in some locations in Lebanon.

"The governments of Lebanon and Syria have assured me that this is not the case," Annan said, nevertheless acknowledging the "difficulties" of a full withdrawal given Syrian history in the country.

The official said there was a problem "per se" in verifying that plainclothes intelligence forces had left but said the United Nations was waiting for the report from the verification mission.

He also underlined Annan's insistence on going ahead with elections in Lebanon next month on schedule, something Lebanon's prime minister-designate Nagib Miqati has said he would press for.

But finding a compromise on an electoral law that would win the backing of both the opposition and pro-Syrian loyalists is one of the stumbling blocks facing the new government, which was formed only last week.

"What we do expect is that there would be an electoral law which can be agreed by a broad spectrum of the political players," the UN official said.

The official added that there was "good hope" that international elections observers would be sent for the polls, adding that there was no formal agreement on the question so far.

Annan's report said there was "no progress" on the disarming of militias such as Hezbollah, which helped bring Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon to an end in may 2000, and Miqati stressed that was not an immediate option.

"The government considers that the armed Lebanese resistance epitomises the people's right to defend its land and dignity against Israeli aggression and threats until the complete liberation of Lebanese territory," he said.