Cabinet to Address Funding of STL on Nov. 30
Prime Minister Najib Miqati will not include the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon on the cabinet’s agenda for this week’s sessions, An Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Ministerial sources told the daily that Miqati will include the STL article on the session scheduled to be held on November 30 after he returns from his visit to the Vatican.
The premier is scheduled to travel to the Vatican on November 28 where he is expected to meet with Pope Benedict XVI.
The sources noted that the STL funding might have political repercussions, which is why Miqati preferred postponing the discussions until his return.
They said that the ongoing contacts with the March 8 forces didn’t lead to any breakthrough concerning the matter, on the contrary they insisted more on their stances, refusing to pay Lebanon’s dues.
“The timeframe is about to end, we still have until December 15” to decide on the issue, the sources told the daily.
They added: “The PM will have no choice but to resign if the funding of the tribunal wasn’t approved (by the cabinet).”
Lebanon is responsible for meeting 49 percent of the costs of the U.N.-backed STL, which has charged four Hizbullah members in the February 14, 2005 assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others.
But the government has yet to pay its share, estimated at $33 million for 2011, as international pressure mounts on Miqati to uphold his commitment to the STL.
However, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has openly opposed Lebanon paying its annual share.
Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi is expected to be join the Arab Justice Ministers meeting in Cairo which coincides with the cabinet’s session on November 30.
He told al-Joumhouria newspaper on Tuesday that his absence wasn’t pre-calculated “it was merely a coincidence.”
The minister denied that his absence was “intentional,” stressing that he will take the right decision at the right time.
Sources close to Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi told the daily that he asked the cabinet for a payment to fund the STL from the 2012 state budget.
They said that his decision was in response to the demands by the STL officials.