Remarks by Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Permanent Representative, on the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lebanon, at the Security Council Stakeout

Ambassador Khalilzad: Good Morning. The Security Council met this morning and decided to extend the mandate of MONUC, which is forces that are present in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DROC) until the end of this year and there will be a review later, prior to the end of the year, to decide about the longer term perspective. The resolution was adopted unanimously. Now, I will take some questions in my national capacity.

Reporter: Ambassador, on Lebanon, how are you going to respond to the request from Prime Minister Siniora for the UN Security Council to set up the tribunal?

Ambassador Khalilzad: We will begin to consult and we expect to have a draft resolution introduced perhaps before the end of the week.

Reporter: Ambassador, just follow up on that, how do you read, I mean the Russians have been very cautious about moving ahead without the full sort of constitutional process being sort of gone through in Lebanon. Do you expect that they would block a resolution on this, do you have any indication from them?

Ambassador Khalilzad: Well, as you know the agreement, with regards to the formation of the tribunal was signed by the UN and by the Lebanese. The Lebanese parliament, the majority supports it. The democratically elected government of Lebanon, the Prime Minister has sent a letter saying that a minority is blocking moving forward and he has asked for the UN to establish a tribunal to assist the Lebanese. And to do it in a way that’s binding. And therefore it is important from our point of view to assist the Lebanese in the establishment of that tribunal and as I said before we expect to introduce a resolution perhaps before the end of this week. As far as Russia is concerned, we are going to consult with the Russians and with others. I think that the report of Mr. Michel stated clearly that he had been unsuccessful in convincing the minority of parliamentarians in Lebanon to move forward. We have the perspective of the Secretariat, now we have a perspective from the Prime Minister of Lebanon asking for help, I think we cannot let the Lebanese down and I think it is imperative that we move forward.

Reporter: Ambassador, there are many in the Middle East who are worried that such a move in the Security Council and establishing the tribunal, special tribunal under Chapter 7, will ignite a civil war in Lebanon. How much does that play in the back of your mind?

Ambassador Khalilzad: Well, I think it is very important for there to be justice down with regards to attacks that have taken place, crimes that have been committed. It’s also very important in terms of the future longer term stability of Lebanon that such actions be deterred through the judicial process that the tribunal involves. We believe that for the stability of Lebanon, for the success of the democracy in Lebanon it is very important that this tribunal be established. This is being done at the request of the legitimate government, the majority members of parliament, and I have already told you about the Secretariat’s perspective on this. But we willll talk to the other members, with our friends on the Council on the timing but as I said before we expect a draft resolution could be introduced before the end of the week. Thank you very much. Have a good day.

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